CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Illinois baseball hits the road for the second straight weekend, heading to Coastal Carolina to face VCU and the host Chanticleers. The Illini will take on the Rams on Friday and Saturday mornings, while they will face the No. 6-ranked Chants on Saturday afternoon and Sunday morning.
The 2026 Fighting Illini squad features a mix of newcomers and returners, with 18 new faces joining the Orange and Blue ahead of the campaign. Illinois also saw 16 players return from its 2025 roster.
The Illini's games against VCU will not be streamed, while Illinois' two contests against Coastal Carolina will be available on ESPN+.
Scott Beatty will call the action for the Illini on the Busey Bank Illini Sports Network (WDWS 1400-AM/93.9FM). Streaming, audio, and stats links are also available at FightingIllini.com.
ABOUT VCU, #6 COASTAL CAROLINA
VCU holds a 3-0 record heading into the week after opening their 2026 campaign with a sweep of Holy Cross. The Rams, led by second-year head coach Sean Thompson, scored 35 runs during the series, including 14-1 and 19-7 wins in their series-ending doubleheader on Feb. 14.Â
VCU's offense is hitting a combined .376 this season, with all eight qualified hitters holding a .300 batting average or better. INF Nate Kirkpatrick leads the team in batting average (.600), hits (6), doubles (2), RBI (9), total bases (11), and slugging percentage (1.100) thus far in 2026.
Coastal Carolina enters the weekend with a 3-1 record after sweeping Fairfield to begin the season before falling to Charleston, 4-3, in a midweek game on Tuesday. The Chanticleers were the national runners-up in 2025, advancing to the College World Series for the second time in program history before earning three wins in Omaha en route to the finals, in which they fell to LSU.Â
The Chants feature one of the most elite pitching staffs in the country, combining for a 1.50 ERA through the first four games of 2026. CCU has allowed just six earned runs thus far while holding opposing offenses to a .182 batting average.
SERIES INFO
Illinois and VCU will meet for just the second time ever this weekend. The Illini and the Rams played on Feb. 25, 2018, a 7-4 Illinois victory, in Conway, S.C.
The Orange and Blue hold a 9-11 record against the Chants in the all-time series, including a 6-11 mark when playing at Coastal Carolina. The sides last met in 2024, which came in the form of a 17-9 Chanticleer victory. Illinois played at CCU for three consecutive years from 2022-24, while Illinois' last triumph over this weekend's hosts came in 2023 (13-3 W on March 11, 2023).
LAST TIME OUT
Illinois dropped its home opener to Butler, 10-8, on Tuesday night at Illinois Field.
AJ Putty led the offense with a 3-for-5 day at the plate, posting a career-high three hits while driving in two runs and scoring twice.
Nick Groves, Collin Jennings, and Cole Warehime all registered multi-hit days for the Orange and Blue.
On the mound, Liam McKillop and Sam Mommer combined to toss three scoreless innings in relief.
HARTLEB TO SERVE AS 2026 USA BASEBALL COLLEGIATE TEAM MANAGER
USA Baseball announced on Feb. 18 that Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb will manage the 2026 Collegiate National Team. It marks Hartleb's managerial debut, but he has been involved with USA Baseball national team programming for more than a decade. His USA Baseball resumé includes serving as an assistant coach at last year's Collegiate National Team Training Camp and as an assistant coach for the 2021 Collegiate National Team.
"I am extremely excited for the opportunity to wear a USA Baseball uniform and lead a team of outstanding collegiate athletes into international play this summer," Hartleb said. "Representing our country in any capacity is a profound honor and privilege. I am energized by the challenge ahead as we work to select a team that will compete with great pride, passion, and purpose in representing our nation and our national pastime in international competition."
Hartleb will head to Cary after wrapping up his 21st season as head coach at Illinois and 36th on the coaching staff. He is the winningest head coach in program history, recording 598 victories and counting across his tenure with the school. Prior to taking the head coaching role in 2006, he was the pitching coach and associate head coach from 1991-2005. He has led the Illini to three Big Ten titles, five appearances in the NCAA Tournament, and the program's first Super Regional appearance in 2015. Thanks to the team's historic 2015 season, Hartleb was named Big Ten Coach of the Year, ABCA Mideast Region Coach of the Year, a National Coach of the Year finalist, and eventually the Big Ten Coach of the Decade for the 2010s.
In his 36 seasons in Champaign, Hartleb has established consistent success and has been instrumental in player development. Every Illini who has played four years for Hartleb has left with a winning percentage of .500 or better, and his teams have finished with a record of .500 or better in 18 of 20 seasons under his leadership. Since joining the staff in 1991, Hartleb has produced a combined 34 All-Americans, seven Big Ten Players of the Year, five Big Ten Pitchers of the Year, and 47 All-Big Ten First Team selections. Additionally, 76 players have been selected in the MLB Draft, including 24 in the first 10 rounds, and 13 have reached the major leagues.
Hartleb has previously worked with USA Baseball on numerous occasions, including as a member of the staff at the 14U and 17U National Team Development Programs (NTDP) in 2014 and 2016, respectively, as an assistant coach for the 2021 Collegiate National Team, as the manager of Team Light Blue at the 2023 16U/17U NTDP, and most recently as the bench/hitting coach at the 2025 Collegiate National Team Training Camp.
DAN HARTLEB, THE WINNINGEST COACH AT ILLINOIS
Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb enters the week two wins shy of 600. The winningest coach in program history, Hartleb earned win No. 519 on April 2, 2023, against Michigan, passing Lee Eilbracht for the most in program history. He heads into the second week of the regular season with 598 career wins.
NEW YEAR, NEW FACES
Illinois has 16 returners and 18 newcomers on its 2026 roster.
Thirteen newcomers are transfers: C Daniel Contreras (Illinois State), OF Cole Crafton (Louisville), INF Michael Farina (Southeastern CC), LHP Tore Indomenico (Notre Dame), RHP Ryan Johnson (Georgia Tech), RHP Richie LaCien (Lawrence University), RHP Olivier Martel (Mineral Area College), RHP Liam McKillop (SIUE), RHP Sam Mommer (Wisconsin-Parkside), INF J.R. Nelson (Ohio), RHP Ryan Ohm (Iowa Central CC), RHP Kyle Remington (Minnesota), and OF/1B Cole Warehime (SEMO).
The Illini roster includes five freshmen, all of whom hail from the state of Illinois: LHP Aidan Flinn (Mokena), INF Lucas Krebs (Edwardsville), INF AJ Putty (McHenry), OF/RHP Foti Rigopoulos (Galena), and RHP Ike Young (Cisco).
STOPPER OF THE YEAR WATCH LIST
Two Illini baseball players were selected to the watch list for the 21st Annual National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Stopper of the Year Award.
Left-hander Zach Bates and right-hander Mitch Dye were both named to the list.
Bates is coming off of a breakout 2025 season, during which he amassed 34 strikeouts in 28.2 innings of work last season over 23 relief appearances. He ended the year with an ERA of 2.83 to go along with a team-high eight saves.
During the 2025 season, Dye put together 23.0 innings of work to go along with 29 strikeouts. He amassed 21 relief appearances and ended the season with an ERA of 7.43. Dye also added one save on the year.
ILLINI TRIO NAMED TO B1G PLAYERS TO WATCH LIST
The Fighting Illini saw three student-athletes honored on the Big Ten Players to Watch list, the conference office announced on Wednesday.Â
Junior outfielder Collin Jennings, junior left-handed pitcher Regan Hall, and senior outfielder Nick Groves were all recognized with preseason honors for the first time in their respective careers.
Jennings put together a breakout sophomore season in 2025, hitting 16 home runs and driving in 61 runs, the latter of which were the most by an Illini since 2008. Tabbed with preseason All-Big Ten honors from Perfect Game, the Orland Park, Ill., native was also named one of the nation's top 100 collegiate juniors by the organization.
Hall heads into the 2026 season after securing a team-high seven wins on the mound for the Illini as a sophomore. Going 4-0 with a 1.03 ERA in the month of April in 2025, the New Mexico native finished his sophomore season with 67.2 innings pitched across 12 starts and 14 total appearances. He recorded his first complete game against Indiana on April 13.
Groves appeared in 43 games, making 41 starts, for the Illini in his first season with the program in 2025. Tallying a slash line of .324/.493/.385, his .493 on-base percentage ranked fifth in Big Ten last season, while his 15 stolen bases were tied for the seventh-most in the conference. He entered 2026 with an active on-base streak of 13 games.
ONES TO WATCH
Perfect Game Preseason All-Big Ten
OF Collin Jennings
Perfect Game Top 100 Collegiate Juniors
No. 77 - OF Collin Jennings
Perfect Game Top 2026 B1G Draft Prospects
No. 9 - OF Collin Jennings
Perfect Game Top 2027 B1G Draft Prospects
No. 16 - LHP/OF Brayden Mazzacano
No. 19 - C/OF Luke Landrus
Perfect Game Top 2028 B1G Draft Prospects
No. 13 - RHP Ike Young
D1Baseball Preseason Second Baseman Rankings
No. 46 - Jack Zebig
D1Baseball Preseason Third Baseman Rankings
No. 25 - Kyle Schupmann
D1Baseball Preseason Outfielder Rankings
No. 99 - Collin Jennings
D1Baseball Preseason Relief Pitcher Rankings
No. 65 - Zach Bates
D1Baseball Top 2026 B1G Draft Prospects
No. 16 - OF Collin Jennings
No. 53 - 2B Jack Zebig
No. 54 - LHP Zach Bates
D1Baseball Top 2027 B1G Draft Prospects
No. 17 - RHP Ryan Johnson
No. 23 - OF Cole Crafton
No. 26 - LHP/OF Brayden Mazzacano
D1Baseball Top Impact B1G Freshmen
No. 15 - RHP Ike Young
No. 26 - LHP Aidan Flinn
