| Probable Starting Pitchers |
| Day |
Illinois |
Illinois State |
| Tue., 4:05 p.m. |
RHP Cyrillo Watson (0-1, 8.64) |
LHP Colton Johnson (1-1, 3.21) |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois continues its 13-game homestand Tuesday against Illinois State at Illinois Field. Freshman Cyrillo Watson is scheduled to get his first career start on the mound.
Illinois (5-12) is coming off a 1-3 weekend. The Illini beat Toledo 11-5 in their home opener Friday but dropped three straight games Saturday and Sunday, one to Toledo and two to Southern Illinois.
Jack Yalowitz has been the Illini's offensive leader, ranking second in the Big Ten in batting average (.400), third in slugging (.671) and third in on-base percentage (.476). He's also third in the league in runs (18), second in hits (28), third in RBIs (20), third in triples (2), sixth in home runs (4), second in total bases (47) and seventh in stolen bases (7).
Illinois State (5-12) finished its spring break trip last week with a 3-5 record and enters Tuesday with an identical overall record to Illinois. The Redbirds will start freshman lefty Owen Miller, who allowed two runs over four innings March 15 in Illinois State's 9-2 win at Tennessee Tech in his most recent outing.
NOTES
• Jack Yalowitz ranks 21st in the nation in batting average among underclassmen.
• Four Illini regulars are batting over .300 -- Jack Yalowitz (.400), Casey Dodge (.341), Pat McInerney (.313) and Anthony Drago (.313).
• Illinois has already hit 19 home runs in 2017 after hitting 27 in all of 2016.
• The Illini ranked 21st in the nation and first in the Big Ten in home runs per game (1.12) entering the week.
• Illinois hit six home runs March 4 against Florida Atlantic in a 14-4 win. The six home runs is tied for the most in a Division I game this season. It was the Illini's most since May 8, 2005 (7 vs. Northwestern).
• Illinois is seventh in the nation with 1.29 in double plays per game entering the week.
• Illinois tied a program record with five double plays Feb. 24 against Texas A&M-Corpus Christi. It is tied for the second-most double plays against a Division I team in 2017. Columbia turned six March 14 against Southern Miss.
• Illinois has started freshman shortstop Ben Troike and freshman second baseman Michael Massey during every game. Troike and Massey are the only Illini to start every game at the same position.
• Michael Massey is the fourth toughest to strikeout in the nation among freshmen (17.3 AB/SO) and Ben Troike is seventh (15.3 AB/SO).
• 124 of Illinois' 160 hits have been by freshmen or sophomores (77.5%). Freshmen have 33 hits, all by Massey and Troike.
• 130 of Illinois' 147 innings pitched have been by freshmen or sophomores (88.4%).
UP NEXT
Illinois opens Big Ten play Friday-Sunday against Michigan State at Illinois Field.
