Baseball Gameday: host Illinois

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – With five wins over its last six games, the Indiana baseball program will look to continue to climb the Big Ten standings with a three-game series against Illinois. The series opener will now throw the first pitch at Noon between the Hoosiers and Fighting Illini.

After winning two of three games last weekend from Nebraska, Indiana (18-23, 4-8 B1G) continued its winning ways with a pair of midweek victories. The pitching staff has allowed one or fewer earned runs in three of the last four games, including both midweek contests. The offense is averaging 13 hits and seven runs per game during that span, as well, and the defense has not committed an error.

Illinois (21-17, 11-4 B1G) sits in third in the Big Ten and is looking to move closer to a berth in the Big Ten Tournament. After starting the season 8-10, Illinois has hit its stride since the start of conference play. Since the start of April, the Fighting Illini is 13-5 and won six straight games from April 9-17 before its recent stretch of two wins in five games.

Gameday Info
Friday, April 29 (Noon)
Probable Starters
IU: Jack Perkins, RHP, R-Jr.
UI: Cole Kirschsieper, LHP, Jr.

Live Video: bit.ly/3knn77e
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Saturday, April 30 (2 p.m.)
Probable Starters
IU: Bradley Brehmer, RHP, Sr.
UI: Jack Crowder, RHP, So.

Live Video: bit.ly/3voMxHP
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Sunday, May 1 (1 p.m.)
Probable Starters
IU: TBA
UI: Riley Gowens, RHP, R-So.

Live Video: bit.ly/36VDe90
Live Audio: bit.ly/IUAudio
Live Stats: bit.ly/IUStatbroadcast

Quick Hitters

The series opener will be the 205th all-time meeting between Indiana and Illinois, with the Fighting Illini owning a 119-84-1 mark on the all-time ledger.
MORE ON PAGE 3
Rookie Josh Pyne owns the longest reached base streak by an IU freshman in over a decade. His 29-game streak is the longest by a freshman in the Big Ten and he is leading all Big Ten freshmen in RBIs (39).
MORE ON PAGE 7
Freshman Carter Mathison became the fourth IU freshman to reach the 10-home run mark. The rookie joined the short list with his solo blast against Nebraska.
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Fellow freshman Brock Tibbitts can join Mathison with double-digit home runs to become the first rookie duo to hit 10-plus homers in the same season for the Cream and Crimson.
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Over the last five games, Indiana's defense has not committed an error. As a team, the Hoosiers are fielding .988 in that span, with both errors coming on failed pickoff attempts.
Freshman Grant Holderfield is tied for No. 5 nationally among rookies in pitching appearances and has not allowed an inherited runner to score on the year.
MORE ON PAGE 7
Redshirt-junior Matt Ellis continues to lead the Big Ten in home runs at 13 longballs on the season. The left-handed hitter has hit some mammoth home runs so far in 2022.
MORE ON PAGE 3 & 8
Indiana has three alums on MLB rosters to start 2022 and saw a school-standard four student-athletes selected in the first 10 rounds of the Major League Baseball Draft in 2021.
MORE ON PAGE 7
Head coach Jeff Mercer owns 90 victories as the Indiana frontman and is poised to become the eighth IU skipper to reach 100 victories in the cream and crimson.
FULL BIO ON PAGE 4

Scouting the Opponents

Illinois is 21-17 overall coming off a series loss at Maryland and a midweek win at Bradley. In conference play, the Fighting Illini are 11-4 entering the weekend.
In the Big Ten, Illinois is coming into the series with conference series wins against Michigan State (2-1), Purdue (3-0), Iowa (2-1) and Northwestern (3-0) and a series loss at Maryland (1-2).
Cam McDonald leads the way for the Illinois offense, hitting .360 along with six home runs, 41 RBIs and 54 hits.
Branden Comia leads the Fighting Illini in extra base hits (21), including six home runs and 13 doubles for 86 total bases. He is hitting an .329 on the season.
Cole Kirschsieper sits among the Big Ten leaders in strikeouts (No. 5; 65), victories (No. 5; 5), WHIP (No. 5; 1.06) and hits per nine innings (No. 6; 6.48).
Four different pitchers own at least one save on the season, with Joseph Glassey, Tommy Green and Ty Rybarczyk each with two saves on the season.

Series Notes

Friday will mark the 205th all-time meeting between Indiana and Illinois, with the first coming on May 12, 1896, in Champaign, Illinois. Overall, Illinois leads the series 119-84-1.
The Fighting Illini won the initial meeting, 19-3, and would win the first 16 meetings between the two schools, which is the longest winning streak in the series.
Indiana won five straight in the series from 1964-67 to mark its longest winning streak in the series.
In the series, 82 games have been decided by two-or-fewer runs, with 57 one-run games in the all-time series. The Hoosiers are 25-31 in the one-run contests versus the Fighting Illini.
Illinois is one of five Big Ten opponents to never allowed IU to score 20 runs in a game.
In 2021, the Hoosiers and Fighting Illini met in a three-game series in Bloomington that saw a no hitter and a postponed game finished eight days later in 10 innings.

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Players Mentioned

Bradley Brehmer

Grant Holderfield

Carter Mathison

Jack Perkins

Josh Pyne

Brock Tibbitts