| Probable Starting Pitchers |
| Day |
Illinois |
#24 Indiana State |
| Tue. 6 p.m. CT |
LHP Sam Reed (1-1, 9.27) |
RHP Jacob Pruitt (1-1, 1.29) |
PREVIEW
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois baseball returns to Illinois Field for a midweek contest vs. No. 24 Indiana State. First pitch is set for 6 p.m. CT. The two programs are meeting for the second time this season, with the Sycamores coming away victorious, 7-6, on March 12 in Terre Haute, Ind.
The Orange and Blue are coming off a Big Ten series at Maryland, where they dropped two of three contests at College Park. Jack Crowder tossed his third-straight quality start in Friday's series opener, helping the Illini to a 7-4 victory.
LHP Sam Reed (1-1, 9.27) is set to make the start for the Illini.
SERIES HISTORY
vs. Indiana State
- Record: 38-41-2 (H: 25-18-1, A: 12-23-1, N: 1-0)
- Last: L, 7-6 (3/12/24 at Terre Haute, Ind.)
- Both matchups last year went to extra innings...Illini went 0-2
- Last Illinois win in Champaign: May 5, 2022
NOTES
MIDWEEK ACTION VS. NO. 24 INDIANA STATE
Illinois baseball returns to Illinois Field for a midweek showdown vs. No. 24 Indiana State.
The contest can be streamed on B1G+.
Scott Beatty will call the action for the Illini on the Busey Bank Illini Sports Network (1400 AM/93.9FM). Streaming, audio, and stats links are also available at FightingIllini.com.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT
No. 24 Indiana State enters the ballgame 31-9, coming off of a weekend series victory at Southern Illinois. The Sycamores have gone 15-8 in true road games this season and they currently lead the Missouri Valley with a 14-4 conference record.
C Luis Hernandez leads Indiana State at the plate with a .365 average to go along with eight doubles, 12 home runs and 53 RBI. Among starters, RHP Brennyn Cutts leads on the mound, going 6-1 with a 2.41 ERA (16 ER/59.2 IP) to go along with 60 strikeouts in 12 games, 11 starts.
Indiana State reached the NCAA Super Regionals last season before being knocked out by TCU. The Sycamores posted a record of 45-17 in 2023.
ALL-TIME SERIES INFO
The Illini are 38-41-2 all-time against the Sycamores, including 25-18-1 at Illinois Field. Illinois is looking to snap a brief three-game losing skid to Indiana State.
The Orange and Blue are 5-6 in the last 11 contests, dating back to March 29, 2016.
B1G WEEKEND ROUND-UP
Illinois saw its six-series winning streak snapped as it dropped two of three at Maryland. It was also the first Big Ten series the Illini dropped this season.
Camden Janik led the team in average over the weekend, going 7-for-12 (.583) with three runs scored and five RBI. He also drew one walk and was hit by a pitch twice, reaching base at a .667 clip. Connor Milton continued his stellar play, going 4-for-9 (.444) with four runs scored, a home run, an RBI and three walks.
The Illini posted an overall team slash of .321/.423/.495 against the Terrapins, scoring 22 runs and homering five times.
Jack Crowder opened the series with his fifth quality start, third-straight overall, of the season on Friday, allowing two earned runs on two hits over 6.0 innings of work, tallying five strikeouts. Payton Hutchins turned in one of his best outings of the season on Saturday, allowing just one run on two hits over 4.1 innings in relief. Will Lavin also made a solid bullpen appearance on Sunday, blanking Maryland over 2.1 fames, yielding two hits and punching out two batters.
HOME SWEET HOME
Illinois is to 15-1 at Illinois Field this season after going 8-0 during its season-long homestand from April 9-23.
The Orange and Blue have won 12-straight in Champaign, which is the third-longest home winning streak in the country.
After sweeping Northwestern from April 19-21, the Illini have also now won 12-straight Big Ten home games dating back to last season, three series sweeps, which is the longest such streak since the Orange and Blue won 18-straight such games from May 2, 2014, to March 26, 2016.
Illinois went 11-8 at home during the 2023 campaign.
The Fighting Illini also won their home opener 12-2 over Eastern Illinois at Illinois Field on Feb. 27. Illinois is now 8-3 in its last 11 home openers and the 12 runs scored are the most since also scoring 12 in the 2021 home opener vs. Northwestern.
CROWDER SHINES
Jack Crowder turned in his third-straight quality start on Friday to help Illinois to a 7-4 win at Maryland in the series opener. Crowder worked 6.0 innings, allowing two earned runs on two hits while striking out five.
The Romeoville, Ill., native, has gone 3-0 with a 3.90 ERA (12 ER/27.2 IP) in his five starts during Big Ten play this season. His ERA is seventh-lowest among conference pitchers that have tossed at least 27.0 innings.
The Illini are 8-3 in games that he starts, including winners in seven-straight straight.
LEADERBOARD WATCHING
The Illini as a team, and individually, find themselves among conference leaders in numerous categories through 40 games this season.
As a team, the Illini lead Big Ten teams in home runs (76), slugging (.517) and OPS (.922), while also holding top five rankings in total bases (727, 3rd), average (.303, T-3rd), runs (325, 4th), RBI (305, 4th) and are tied for fourth for fewest strikeouts (285).
On the mound, the Orange and Blue have yielded the third-fewest hits (346), allowed the fourth-fewest earned runs (233), posted the fourth-lowest WHIP (1.52), issued the fifth-fewest walks (183), and allowed the fifth-fewest runs (263).
Individually, Camden Janik ranks fifth in average (.379) and and tied-for-sixth in hits (61). Jacob Schroeder leads in slugging (.752) and is tied for the lead in OPS (1.225) while ranking tied-for-third in home runs (12). Drake Westcott ranks tied-for-third in home runs (12) and is fifth in walks (35). Ryan Moerman is also tied-for-third in home runs (12).
Q
Coltin Quagliano turned in another solid weekend at the plate over the weekend Maryland, going 4-for-13 (.308) with three runs, a home run and three RBI.
The Kewanee, Ill., native extended his career-long hitting streak to 19 games and has gone 34-for-74 (.459) with six doubles, five home runs and 26 RBI during that span. He also has multi-hit performances in 11 of those 19 games to boost his season average from .229 to .338.
Quagliano leads the team with 44 RBI on the year, which is tied-for-eighth-most in the Big Ten. During his current hitting streak, he has drove runs in 15 of 19 games, including 13 games with an RBI in his last 15.
A MILLY
Connor Milton continued to perform at the plate, going 4-for-9 (.444) with four runs scored, a home run, an RBI and three walks for an overall slash of .444/.583/.667.
Milton saw his career-high four-game hitting streak snapped on Friday, but still reached base safely twice by drawing two walks.
He followed that up on Saturday by going 3-for-5 for run for his third game with at least three hits this season.
In Sunday's finale, the senior went 1-for-3 with two runs, a home run, RBI and a walk. Milton has now reached base safely in seven-straight games, which is a career-long streak.
Milton is now slashing .333/.420/.617 on the year in 35 games, 15 starts, to go along with 15 runs, 20 hits, five home runs and 12 RBI. All of those figures are career-best marks.
JANIK JAMS
Camden Janik continued his hitting prowess over the weekend at Maryland, going 7-for-12 with three runs, five RBI, a walk and was hit by a pitch twice. Janik posted an overall slash of .583/.667/.583, collecting at least two hits in each contest.
The junior extended his hitting streak to seven games and has gone 14-for-29 (.483) during that span with two doubles, a home run and 11 RBI. He has multi-hit performances in five of those contests, raising his season average from .356 to .379.
The Wauconda, Ill., native remains the toughest out in the country, striking out just eight times in 161 at-bats. His K AVG. of 20.1 is the best in the nation. His eight strikeouts are the fewest among batters that have taken at least 161 at-bats this season. Janik is the highest ranked catcher in that category.
CALIFORNIA HEJZA
Cal Hejza continues to put together his best season at the plate in his career, after going 4-for-12 (.333) with four runs scored, a double and three walks over the weekend at Maryland. Leading off in all three games of the series for the second-straight weekend, Hejza reached base safely at a .467 clip.
The senior then went 1-for-5 with two runs scored on Friday and followed it up with a 1-for-4 one walk performance and Saturday and closed the series by going 2-for-3 with two runs and two walks on Sunday.
Hejza has hit safely in 20 of his last 24 games overall, which features nine multi-hit performances. He has also reached base safely in 25-consecutive games, which is the longest active streak on the team.
Hejza has improved his batting average by 89 points from last year, his on-base percentage by 117 points and slugging by 74. The senior has 49 hits this season, which is his best single-season mark.
The Oswego, Ill., native, is ranks second on the team with six three-hit games and ranks third on the team with 14 multi-hit performances overall.
CHASING HISTORY
The 2023 Fighting Illini slugged 89 home runs, just two shy of matching the program record of 91, set in 1998.
Through 40 games this season, Illinois has blasted 76 home runs, needing 16 home runs over 10 games (1.6 HR/G) to break the record.
The 1998 squad had 46 home runs after 40 games and the 2023 team had 66 home runs at the same mark.
UP NEXT
Illinois continues its seven-game homestand with a three-game set against Big Ten foe Ohio State. First pitch in Friday's series opener is set for 6 p.m. CT.
