PREVIEW
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The Illinois baseball team begins its 142nd season Friday with a trip to Greenville, S.C. The Illini are scheduled to play a four-game series Friday-Sunday against Ohio State at Fluor Field. Saturday's action will be a doubleheader, with the first contest being a 7-inning game.
Illinois is returning to the field for the first time since March 8, 2020, when the COVID-19 pandemic ended the 2020 season early. The Illini were 8-5 through their first 13 games last season.
This year, the team will have 24 players back from last season's roster and welcome 11 newcomers. Much of the offensive production is back with 86% of last season's hits and 83% of the team's runs scored returning.
Sophomore righty Andrew Hoffmann will get the ball for the Illini on Friday. Hoffmann transferred from John A. Logan Community College following last season. He went 5-0 with a 2.08 ERA in five starts in 2020. Illinois will send junior Riley Gowens to the mound in game one on Saturday and sophomore Ty Rybarczyk in game two. The weekend finale will have freshman left-hander Cole Kirschsieper on the hill.
All four games will be broadcast on BTN+ along with the Fighting Illini Sports Network.
No public admission will be allowed at the games this weekend.
NOTES
• Illinois is opening its 142nd season in program history.
• Illinois will play its first game in 362 days. Their last game was an 8-7 win on March 8, 2020 at Elon.
» The Big Ten suspended all sports beginning March 12, 2020 due to COVID-19. The fast-spreading virus was deemed a pandemic by the World Health Organization, prompting most collegiate and professional leagues in the United States to suspend all activities. The suspension of Big Ten sports ended Illinois' baseball season after only 13 games.
• Illinois will play their first four games of the season against Ohio State at Fluor Field in Greenville, S.C. The Illini went 2-1 at Fluor Field in 2018 against Michigan State (1-1) and Furman (1-0).
• Illinois has 24 players returning and 11 newcomers. 86% of last season's hits and 83% of runs will be back in the lineup.
» Three of the four transfers on the team this season are coming from John A. Logan CC (RHP Andrew Hoffmann, C Ryan Hampe, INF Zak Hartleb). INF Jackson Raper transferred from Catawba College.
• Illinois won seven of its last nine games in 2020, with its only losses coming to #1 UCLA and at Elon.
• Illinois had three straight winning weekends on the road (at Coastal Carolina, at Frisco Classic, at Elon) before the season was suspended.
• Six of the Illini's eight wins in 2020 came when allowing two or fewer runs.
• SS Branden Comia was the only underclassmen shortstop in the nation who hit .400+ with an OPS of 1.200+ in 2020.
• SS Branden Comia Big Ten ranks in 2020...
» 3rd OBP (.526)
» 5th slugging (.702)
» 5th batting average (.426)
• SS Branden Comia is on a career-long 10-game hitting streak and a career-long 18-game reached base streak.
• OF Taylor Jackson reached base safely in 12 of 13 games and had a hit in 11 of 13 games in 2020.
• LHP Cole Kirschsieper was tied for fifth in the nation in victories among freshman (3-0) when the season was suspended.
» Tied for first in wins in the Big Ten, second-fewest in runs allowed (3) and fifth-best ERA (1.35) in the conference.
• Freshman RF Danny Doligale hit .316/.422/.395 (12-38) with 3 RBIs, 6 BB, 6 SB over 12 games last season.
• Dan Hartleb won his 450th game as a head coach on Feb. 28, 2020 against #13 Texas A&M to become the third coach in Illinois history to reach the milestone. Hartleb could pass Illini legend Itch Jones for second place on the all-time wins list this year.
• Head coach Dan Hartleb has made as many NCAA tournaments in his first 15 seasons as head coach (4) as the previous 42 Illini seasons combined.
• Illinois is picked to finish fifth in the conference by Baseball America, sixth by D1Baseball and sixth in the Big Ten preseason coaches poll.
• Illinois' new $8-million, 26,000-square foot Susan and Clint Atkins Baseball Training Center is set to open in 2022.
• Illinois opened the new decade last season following its best decade in program history.
» Two Big Ten titles (2011, 2015) in the decade.
» 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 finished in second at the Frisco Classic in 2020 with wins against #13 Texas A&M and #23 Oklahoma State.
» SS Branden Comia and C Jacob Campbell were named to the Frisco Classic All-Tournament Team.
» Comia had the game-winning hit Feb. 28 in a 1-0 win over #13 Texas A&M and a triple and homer against #23 Oklahoma State on Feb. 29. He also doubled against #1 UCLA.
» Campbell had two hits against #23 Oklahoma State and added a big caught stealing behind the plate.
• Four of Illinois' first nine games in 2020 were against top 25 teams. The Illini went 2-2 in those games vs. ranked opponents.
• D1Baseball Big Ten top 2021 MLB Draft prospects: No. 11 SS Branden Comia, No. 17 RHP Aidan Maldonado, No. 27 C Ryan Hampe
• D1Baseball Big Ten Impact Freshmen: No. 17 LHP Payton Hutchings and No. 21 RHP Jack Crowder
• Baseball America Big Ten top 2021 MLB Draft prospects: No. 10 RHP Aidan Maldonado, No. 13 C Jacob Campbell, No. 17 SS Branden Comia, No. 20 RHP Andrew Hoffmann
• Perfect Game Preseason All-Big Ten team: SS Branden Comia and C Ryan Hampe
• Perfect Game Big Ten top 2021 MLB Draft prospects: No. 19 C Jacob Campbell, No. 22 RHP Andrew Hoffmann, No. 24 RHP Aidan Maldonado, No. 25 C Ryan Hampe, No. 29 SS Branden Comia, No. 32 INF Jackson Raper
• SS Branden Comia preseason awards: Perfect Game Preseason All-Big Ten team, No. 4 shortstop in the nation by D1Baseball, No. 11 MLB Draft prospect in the Big Ten by D1Baseball, No. 17 MLB Draft prospect in the Big Ten by Baseball America, "Best Defensive Infielder" in the Big Ten by Baseball America, Bobby Bragan Collegiate Slugger Award watch list
UP NEXT
Illinois will travel to Minneapolis next weekend and play Minnesota in a four-game series at U.S. Bank Stadium.
