Illinois Baseball: Illini set to make a run to the College World Series

The Illinois baseball team is back in the NCAA Tournament and this time they are looking to make a deep run to a title.

You have to go back to 2015 to find the last time the Orange and Blue were dancing in late May early June. They finished that season with an amazing 50-10-1 record overall and a 21-1 conference record. In the tournament, the Illini were the No. 6 overall seed and was the No. 1 seed in the Champaign Regional. They defeated Ohio, Notre Dame and Wright State to advance to the Super Regional Championship game where they played a great Vanderbilt program. The Illini would fall in straight games.

This rendition of the Illinois baseball team isn’t the top seed in their regional. They are heading down to the Oxford Regional where Mississippi is the No. 1 seed in the regional and the No. 12 seed overall. The Illini are the No. 2 seed in their regional, though.

Each individual regional is double-elimination, so one loss doesn’t mean you are out of the tournament. Illinois will be matched up with Clemson at 3:00 PM central time on ESPNU. The other team in the regional besides for Mississippi and Clemson is Jacksonville State. The winner of the Oxford Regional will then face off against Arkansas, Central Connecticut State, TCU or California to see who advances to the College World Series.

From how the season unfolded for the Illini, it looks like Andy Fisher should the starter on Friday. He comes into the game against Clemson with a 2.97 ERA and a 7-1 record after 15 starts this year. Those are impressive numbers and expect him to bring the same fire this Friday.

I would imagine the game-two starter on Saturday against either Mississippi or Jacksonville State would be Ty Weber. He had a few relief appearances to start the year but quickly formed into a solid starter for the Illini. Look for him to get the nod in game two.

Illinois will need to get their bats going this weekend if they want to advance to the College World Series as well. They did pretty well in the regular season with a .279 batting average, which ranked No. 82 out of 297 teams. But their .358 on-base percentage wasn’t good. That ranked No. 168 in the nation. To get runners across home plate, you need to have players on the bases. That is something Illinois needs to accomplish over the next few games.

Overall, I think the Illini at least have a shot at getting out of their regional. Can they advance to the College World Series? That remains to be seen. But this team has a solid pitching staff. I think the arms could carry this Orange and Blue program to new heights.