Illinois - Season Opening Weekend
When	February 14-16
Where	Winston-Salem, N.C. (David F. Couch Ballpark)
Tickets	Tickets
Television	None
Live Video	None
Radio	Fighting Illini Sports Network | WDWS AM-1400
Live Stats	Fri. | Sat. | Sun.
Notes	Illinois
Shop	Online Store | Auctions | Publications
Social Media	@IlliniBaseball | #Illini | @IlliniBaseball | Facebook | YouTube

SCHEDULE

Friday, 5 p.m. CT » Illinois vs. Milwaukee
Saturday, 9 a.m. CT » Illinois vs. Seton Hall
Sunday, 1 p.m. CT » Illinois at No. 18 Wake Forest

FRIDAY TIME CHANGE

Illinois' season opener Friday against Milwaukee in Winston-Salem, N.C. was moved - for a second time - to 5 p.m. CT due to O'Hare's hundreds of canceled flights complicating the Illini's travel plans. Illinois' afternoon flight from Chicago was canceled, before the Illini eventually ended up on a flight at 12:24 a.m. CT Friday to Charlotte after numerous delays. Illinois expects to reach its hotel in Winston-Salem around 5 a.m. ET Friday morning.

?????????????? ?????? ??????????

It has been a long wait for the college baseball season. We will have to wait a few extra hours...

5 p.m. CT » #Illini vs. Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/IxMgQFhKv9

— Illinois Baseball (@IlliniBaseball) February 14, 2020

PREVIEW

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Illinois baseball team begins its 141st season Friday with a trip to Winston-Salem, N.C. The Illini are scheduled to play Friday-Sunday against Milwaukee, Seton Hall, and No. 18 Wake Forest in the first weekend of college baseball. 

Illinois is looking for back-to-back trips to the NCAA Regionals after going 36-21 in 2019 and receiving an at-large bid to the D1 bracket. The Illini bring back 15 players from last year's squad and have added 18 newcomers. 

One of the vital returners is Friday starter Ty Weber, who will be making his second career Opening Day start on the mound. The senior has started 43 games during his time in Champaign and has a 4.20 ERA in 240.0 career innings. Weber enters the season within striking distance of John Kravetz's Illinois record of 337.0 career innings set 2012-15. Sophomores Ty Rybarczyk and Aidan Maldonado are scheduled to get the ball Saturday and Sunday, respectively. 

All three games will be broadcast on the Fighting Illini Sports Network. No video stream will be available.  

NOTES

• Illinois is opening its 141st season in program history. 

• Illinois returns to Wake Forest to start the season for the second straight year. Last season, Illinois swept Georgetown
(11-3), #20 Wake Forest (5-2) and Sacred Heart (4-0) as part of a 6-0 start to the season. 

• Illinois is opening the new decade following its best decade in program history. 

     » Two Big Ten titles (2011, 2015)

     » Four NCAA Regionals (2011, 2013, 2015, 2019), tied for the second-most in the Big Ten in the 2010s (IND 6, NEB 4).

     » Program record 50 wins in 2015 and the team's first ever Super Regional

     » Head coach Dan Hartleb was named D1Baseball's Big Ten Coach of the Decade

• Illinois made the NCAA Tournament for the 12th time in program history last season (1947, 1948, 1962,1963, 1989, 1990, 1998, 2000, 2011, 2013, 2015, 2019) and the first time since 2015.

• Head coach Dan Hartleb has made as many NCAA tournaments in his first 14 seasons as head coach (4) as the previous 42 Illini seasons combined. 

• Illinois' new $8-million, 26,000-square foot Susan and Clint Atkins Baseball Training Center is set to open in 2022.

• Illinois is picked to finish fourth in the Big Ten by Perfect Game, fifth by D1Baseball, and eighth by Baseball America.

• RHP Garrett Acton led the nation in saves (19) and set the Illinois and Big Ten single-season records in 2019. Acton broke the Big Ten record held previously held by Ohio State's Jake Hale in 2009 (18). His 2020 preseason accolades include: NCBWA Preseason All-America first team, Perfect Game Preseason All-America second team, Collegiate Baseball Newspaper Preseason All-America second team, Perfect Game Preseason All-Big Ten, No. 26 MLB Draft prospect in the Big Ten by Perfect Game, No. 37 MLB Draft prospect in the Big Ten by D1Baseball, best fastball in the Big Ten by Baseball America

• D1Baseball Big Ten top 2020 MLB Draft prospects: No. 20 LHP Jimmy Burnette, No. 24 C/1B Kellen Sarver, No. 37 RHP Garrett Acton

• D1Baseball Big Ten top 2021 MLB Draft prospects: No. 4 RHP Aidan Maldonado, No. 14 IF/OF Cam McDonald, No. 19 LHP Nathan Lavender, No. 20 SS Branden Comia, No. 26 Ty Rybarczyk

• D1Baseball Big Ten Impact Freshmen: No. 19 INF Brody Harding, No. 37 LHP Cole Kirschsieper, No. 42 RHP Grant Leader, No. 44 OF Danny Doligale, No. 46 INF Xavier Watson

• Illinois regularly started four freshmen last season, who now make up the sophomore class: SS Branden Comia, 1B/C Kellen Sarver, C Jacob Campbell, IF/OF Cam McDonald. The class was ranked No. 22 in the nation by D1Baseball.com and No. 24 by Baseball America as recruits, Illinois' first-ever top-25 recruiting class. Campbell (No. 25) and RHP Aidan Maldonado (No. 49) were both among the top 50 freshman in the nation according to Baseball America when they came to Illinois.

• Four of Illinois' first nine games are against preseason top 25 teams: #18 Wake Forest, #20 Texas A&M, #22 Oklahoma State, #14 UCLA. Illinois also faces predicted conference champion and NCAA regional team Coastal Carolina.

• Illinois was 5-2 against ranked teams (D1Baseball Poll) in 2019. The five wins were tied for the most in the Dan Hartleb era (2009, 2015). Illinois won two season series against ranked teams (Coastal Carolina, Indiana) for the third time in the Dan Hartleb era, joining 2009 (LSU, Minnesota) and 2015 (Oklahoma State, Ohio State).

• Illinois has 18 newcomers in 2020.

• Illinois had seven players drafted in June last year. Three juniors left with a year of eligibility remaining: 2B Michael Massey, SS Ben Troike, RHP Cyrillo Watson. 

• Opponents hit .202 with runners in scoring position against Illinois in 2019 (104-516).

• Illinois was 35-13 when scoring more than two runs in 2019.

• Illinois was 33-9 when issuing fewer than seven walks in 2019. The Illini were 3-12 when walking seven or more (of those 15 games, 11 were on the road and two were at neutral sites).

• Illinois outscored opponents 39-12 in the first inning in 2019. The Illini allowed more than one run in the first inning only one time all season. 

• Illinois set the Big Ten record for fielding percentage in Big Ten games (.987) in 2019. Illinois made only 12 errors in 24 Big Ten games to break the old record of .986 set by Illinois in 1981.

• Illinois was fourth in the nation in fewest errors per game (0.6) in 2019, behind only Navy, Omaha, and Creighton during the regular season.

• Illinois was second in the nation in fielding at .982 in 2019, behind only Omaha (.984). The .982 mark set the Illinois single-season program record, passing the 2018 mark of .979, and broke Nebraska's Big Ten record of .981 in 2013.

• Illinois was third in the nation in hits allowed per nine innings (7.09) during the 2019 regular season, behind only UCLA (6.16) and Georgia (6.24).

• RHP Ty Weber was ninth in the Big Ten in ERA (2.86) and eighth in average against (.219) during the 2019 regular season.

• Illinois started 2019 at 14-3, tied for the best start through 17 games in the last 60 years (started 16-1 in 1959). 

• Illinois swept five of its first six weekends in 2019. The Illini swept three of its first four weekends for the first time since beginning to regularly play February games in 1982. Illinois swept a total of seven weekends last season.

UP NEXT

Illinois makes its annual trip to Conway, S.C., for three games at Coastal Carolina next weekend. The Illini will play Western Carolina, Coastal, and West Virginia.