| Probable Starting Pitchers |
| Day |
Illinois |
Rutgers |
| Fri., 11 a.m. CT |
RHP Ty Weber (2-6, 5.24) |
RHP Serafino Brito (3-8, 4.91) |
| Fri., 2:30 p.m. CT |
RHP Cyrillo Watson (2-4, 5.59) |
RHP Gaby Rosa (3-5, 6.55) |
| Sat., 12 p.m. CT |
RHP Matthew James (1-1, 5.04) |
RHP John O'Reilly (4-6, 5.73) |
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- After four days off, the Illinois baseball team returns to action Friday at Rutgers. The Illini and Scarlet Knights are scheduled to play a doubleheader Friday before finishing the series Saturday.
Illinois (21-24, 7-11 Big Ten) needs to make up one game of ground on Northwestern and two on Michigan State over the season's last six Big Ten games in order to have a chance to qualify for the conference tournament. Michigan State is at first-place Nebraska and Northwestern is at second-place Maryland this weekend.
The Illini surged back into the tournament picture by beating Maryland in two of three games last weekend. The series was finished by Mark Skonieczny's walk-off two-run homer in the bottom of the ninth Sunday to give Illinois the series win.
Rutgers (17-28, 5-10 Big Ten) has lost five straight Big Ten games after starting the conference season 5-5. The Scarlet Knights were swept at Nebraska last weekend after dropping two straight to Michigan the weekend prior. Rutgers has Big Ten series wins over Iowa (2-1) and Purdue (2-1).
WDWS 1400-AM will cover all three games. The first game will only be available on the internet, while the second game will air on WDWS. If the Illinois softball team is playing in the Big Ten Tournament Saturday, then the baseball team's game will start online and join WDWS in progress.
STANDINGS
| Big Ten Standings (only B1G games left listed) |
|
Team |
Big Ten |
Win Pct. |
B1G Left |
May 12-14 |
May 16 |
May 18-20 |
| 1 |
NEB |
12-5-1 |
.694 |
6 |
MSU |
|
at PSU |
| 2 |
MD |
14-7 |
.667 |
3 |
NW |
|
|
| 3 |
MINN |
12-6 |
.667 |
5 |
|
RUT (2) |
PUR |
| 4 |
MICH Â |
11-7 |
.611 |
6 |
at PUR |
|
at MSU |
|
IOWA |
11-7 |
.611 |
6 |
OSU |
|
at ILL |
| 6 |
IND |
10-7-1 |
.583 |
6 |
at PSU |
|
at OSU |
| 7 |
PUR |
10-8 |
.556 |
6 |
MICH |
|
at MINN |
| 8 |
MSU |
8-10 |
.444 |
6 |
at NEB |
|
MICH |
|
NW |
8-10 |
.444 |
6 |
at MD |
|
RUT |
| 10 |
ILL |
7-11 |
.389 |
6 |
at RUT |
|
IOWA |
| 11 |
OSU |
6-12 |
.333 |
6 |
at IOWA |
|
IND |
| 12 |
RUT |
5-10 |
.333 |
8 |
ILL |
at MINN (2) |
at NW |
| 13 |
PSU |
2-16 |
.111 |
6 |
IND |
|
NEB |
NOTES
• Illinois has won two straight Big Ten series and three of its last four series.
• Illinois went 11-7 in April after going 2-5 in February and 5-11 in March. Illinois is off to a 3-1 start in May.
• Illinois is 15-8 since March 31 after a 6-16 start to the season.
• Mark Skonieczny hit a walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth Sunday to give Illinois n 8-6 win over No. 24 Maryland in the deciding game of a three-game series. Skonieczny's second homer of the season came with two outs on a 0-2 count and the teams already seven minutes past Maryland's predetermined travel curfew. No half inning would have started after the bottom of the ninth due to the curfew. Without Skonieczny's home run off of Maryland reliever Andrew Miller, who entered with a season ERA below 1.00, the game would have ended in a tie.
• Illinois has won three of its last four Big Ten series - vs. Northwestern, at Minnesota and vs. Maryland - but was swept at Purdue between those series wins.
• Illinois scored 17 runs of the span of four innings to sweep Minnesota in a Saturday doubleheader two weekends ago. Jack Yalowitz hit a game-winning grand slam in the ninth inning of Game 1 and went 5-11 with two homers and seven RBIs on the day.
• 11 of the Illini's last 14 wins have been decided by three or fewer runs and 10 of 15 have been decided by two or fewer.
• Illinois has won 10 of its last 13 two-run games. The Illini are 12-11 in games decided by two or fewer runs.
• Illinois is ranks fifth in the nation and second in the Big Ten with 1.13 double plays per game. Iowa leads the nation at 1.15.
• Jack Yalowitz Big Ten ranks: batting average (6th, .347), home runs (4th, 11), RBIs (6th, 41), slugging (3rd, .619), total bases (2nd, 109), triples (6th, 3), runs (7th, 38).
• Pat McInerney Big Ten ranks: home runs (2nd, 13), slugging percentage (4th, .584), total bases (4th, 101), RBIs (12th, 36).
UP NEXT
Illinois finishes the regular season May 18-20 at home against Iowa. Friday, May 19 is scheduled for Lou Boudreau Day and the Bleacher Bum BBQ with postgame fireworks at Illinois Field.
