First, Illinois defeated the Bears in their first game, 5-4. It was the first extra inning contest of the season for the Fighting Illini.

After trailing Baylor 3-4 in game one, the Illini tied the game in the top of the seventh. Thomas Lindauer scored the game tying run after he homered down the left field line to begin the inning.

The Illini and the Bears would remain tied until the top of the eleventh. Brandon Hohl scored the go-ahead run after Ryan Nagle singled through the left side. Tyler Jay and Reid Roper combined to finish off the Bears in the bottom of the eleventh.

The winning pitcher for Illinois was Tyler Jay. He came in relief for Drasen Johnson in the bottom of the eighth. He only gave up one hit and struck out four batters. Jay is now is 1-1 on the season.

June 5, 2011; Fullerton, CA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini infielder Brandon Hohl (3) is congratulated after scoring a run during the eighth inning against the Cal State Fullerton Titans in the Fullerton regional of the 2011 NCAA baseball tournament at Goodwin Field. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The losing pitcher for Baylor was Kolt Browder. He pitched for two innings and gave up the winning-run in the top of the eleventh. He is 0-1 on the season.

Then, Illinois defeated the Bears in their second game as well, 6-1. The Illini offense made life a lot easier the second time around as they scored three runs right off the bat in the top of the first.

Illinois led Baylor. 4-0, after two innings.

When it can to scoring runs, Thomas Lindauer and Jordan Parr were the best for Illinois in game two. Lindauer went 2-of-5 from behind the plate and recorded two RBIs. Parr went 2-of-4, scored two runs, and had one RBI.

The winning pitcher for Illinois was John Kravetz. Kravetz was coming off a game where he only pitched 4.1 innings and gave up five runs against Texas-Arlington. On Sunday, he pitched eight full innings and only gave up a single run. Kravetz is now is 2-0 on the season.

The losing pitcher for Baylor was Austin Stone. He only pitched three innings where he gave up four runs, three hits, and walked three batters. He is 0-2 on the season.

The Illinois Fighting Illini are now 10-4 this season.

The Illinois Fighting Illini will play their next game against the Southern Illinois Salukis. They will play the Salukis on March 15th, 16th, 17th, and 18th. Game three of the series will be played at Rent One Park, which is the home of the Southern Illinois Miners of the Frontier League.

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This will be the Illini’s second trip to Texas since March 3rd. Last weekend, they were in Arlington, Texas for the UTA/Hilton Invitational. They went 3-1 during the invitational and ended it with a 6-5 loss to Texas-Arlington.

The Baylor Bears are coming into this series with an overall record of 7-6 and a home record of 5-2. They swept Louisiana Tech in a two game series.

June 3, 2011; Fullerton, CA, USA; Illinois Fighting Illini pitcher Kevin Johnson (22) pitches against the Cal State Fullerton Titans during the first inning of the Fullerton regional of the 2011 NCAA baseball tournament at Goodwin Field. Mandatory Credit: Jake Roth-USA TODAY Sports

The best hitter for Baylor coming into the series is Nathan Orf. Orf leads the team in batting average (.583), hits (23), slugging percentage (.583), and on-base percentage (.561). He has also scored ten runs this season (tied for first on the team).

Another player that is a good hitter for the Bears is Cal Towey. Towey is fourth on the team in batting average, but leads the team with sixteen RBIs. If there are runners in scoring position, one can bet that Towey will bat them in.

The Fighting Illini are lead offensively by Justin Parr, Michael Hurwitz, and Jordan Parr.

Justin Parr leads the team with a .479 batting average. However, all three players have double-digit hits. Jordan Parr and Michael Hurwitz both have double-digit runs.

There are also three players for Illinois that have double-digit RBIs coming into the series. Jordan Parr leads the team with 14 RBIs while Justin Parr (13) and Thomas Lindauer (10) are right behind him on the team.

Here are the pitching match-ups coming into the series:

Game One – Illinois: Kevin Johnson (RHP, Sr., 2-1, 3.44 ERA) / Baylor: Dillion Newman (RHP, Jr., 2-0, 1.62 ERA)

Game Two - Illinois: Nick Blackburn (RHP, Fr., 2-0, 3.57 ERA) / Baylor: Max Garner (RHP, Sr., 1-2, 2.79 ERA)

Game Three - Illinois: John Kravetz (RHP, So., 1-0, 5.91 ERA) / Baylor: Austin Stone (RHP, So., 0-1, 6.43 ERA)

Illinois and Baylor have only played each other twice in the past. The series is tied at one game a piece. Their last meeting ended in the 20-6 Baylor win on February 29th, 2008.

It is still early in the season, but the Fighting Illini are looking good early on. The offense is hot for Illinois, but the pitching has struggled in some games.

In their last game, John Kravetz was on the mound, but was pulled after 4.1 innings. During those innings, he gave up six hits, five runs, and walked three batters.

Game One will be the toughest game of the series for Illinois. However, the series finale will be one to watch. Game Three will feature two pitchers that are looking to get things going. If Kravetz can get things going in that game, the Illini should be able to ride their offensive strength to a 2-1 series win.

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Right now, there are teams that are either 1) most likely to make the tournament, 2) “On the Bubble,” or 3) most likely out of the tournament. Here are the some of the teams I feel fall into these three categories this week.

Most Likely In

1) Oklahoma Sooners (19-9, 10-6, 4th Big 12)

Feb 27, 2013; Austin, TX, USA; Oklahoma Sooners guards Sam Grooms (1) and Steven Pledger (2) and Je

Last week, the Sooners were a definite lock for the NCAA Tournament. Although, that was before they went into Austin, Texas to play the Texas Longhorns on February 27th. Oklahoma led the Longhorns by more than 20 points in the second half, but let Myck Kabongo take over to hit a game tying buzzer beater and then win the game in overtime for Texas. It is true that this is OU’s FIRST bad loss of the season.

They do have wins over Kansas and Oklahoma State (both at home) and are about .500 against the Top 100. Their remaining two regular season games this week will not be “resume builders” as they will play West Virginia (home) and TCU (away), but losses here will be more bad losses.

2) Colorado Buffaloes (19-9, 9-7, 5th Pac-12)

Colorado had a chance to get themselves closer to the NCAA Tournament, but took a minor step back this past week. On Saturday, the Buffaloes lost a tough game to the California Golden Bears. Both Colorado and California will most likely be in the NCAA Tournament, but that was a game the Buffs truly needed to win. However, Colorado has a BIG resume booster on Thursday night in the Oregon Ducks. If they can find a way to win against the Ducks, they could give the committee enough to select them for the tournament. The Buffaloes already have one win against Oregon in Eugene.

3) Creighton Bluejays  (24-7, 13-5, 1st MVC)

Jan 30, 2013; Omaha, NE, USA; Creighton Bluejay forward Doug McDermott (3) points to a teammate during the second half of their game against the Missouri State Bears at the CenturyLink Center. Mandatory Credit: Dave Weaver-USA TODAY Sports

Last week, I had the Creighton Bluejays in my “Most Likely Out.” That was before they picked up a win over Wichita State on March 2nd. ESPN’s Joe Lunardi (arguably the best bracketologist) has Wichita State as an at-large lock for the NCAA Tournament. Going off of that and the fact that they won the Missouri Valley regular season, the Bluejays should be dancing this March. With that being said, they will need to avoid any crazy upsets.

Last year, Illinois State made a run as Cinderella in the MVC tournament as they 1) beat #1 Wichita State and 2) took #2 Creighton to overtime in the championship game. The only team Creighton “can” lose to in the conference tournament is Wichita State.

4) California Golden Bears (20-9, 12-5, 3rd Pac-12)

One problem I had with the California Golden Bears last week was their record against better opponents. Now, even though they weren’t better in the Pac-12, I believe Cal’s win over Colorado helps this point. The Golden Bears and the Buffaloes were about even in the Pac-12 (even though Cal was technically slightly better record-wise). California made sure that they were better than Colorado after that win. With that being said, one bad loss can put Cal on the bubble. They play their last regular season game against Stanford this week and “should” be able to win the game.