Got weekend plans?
Apr. 21—It's a busy weekend for Illinois athletics, with six different teams competing at home and two more on the road as the spring season nears its conclusion. News-Gazette staff writer Scott Richey shines a spotlight on all of them:
Baseball
Three consecutive losses, including Tuesday at home to Eastern Illinois for a second straight season, has Illinois three games below .500 entering its penultimate Big Ten home series against Minnesota. Taking the series from the Gophers (10-24, 4-5 Big Ten) is rather crucial for the Illini (15-18, 4-8), who have been led at the plate by Drake Westcott (.254 average, 10 HR, 29 RBI). Illinois has lost all four of its Big Ten series this season with a single win each against Nebraska, Michigan, Northwestern and Indiana.
Football
Don't get your hopes up about learning all that much from what's now a 7 p.m. Friday open scrimmage at Memorial Stadium. The "Ones vs. The World" format — a chance to see what the first string looked like and could do — was scrapped when what would have been a Thursday night spring game was postponed. All eyes will still be on the quarterbacks, though, as Mississippi transfer Luke Altmyer tries to secure QB1 status.
Men's golf
Tournament golf will return to Urbana this weekend for the first time in a dozen years with the Fighting Illini Spring Collegiate at Atkins Golf Club. The Big Ten-heavy field is anchored by the Illini, who are ranked as high as No. 3 in the Golfstat rankings and picked up a first-place vote in the latest Bushnell/Golfweek D-I Coaches Poll. Fifth-year Illinois senior standout Adrien Dumont de Chassart, a semifinalist for the prestigious Ben Hogan Award, has three runner-up finishes this school year.
Women's golf
Championship season has arrived for Illinois with the Big Ten championship Friday through Sunday at Fox Chapel Golf Club in Pittsburgh. The Illini are coming off a ninth-place finish at the Buckeye Spring Invitational last weekend in Columbus, Ohio, where Crystal Wang finished sixth individually. It was Wang's third top-six finish in the last five weeks, including a tie for the title at the Clemson Invitational in late March.
Softball
No reason to mince words. Illinois has reached "must-win" territory in the final three weeks of the regular season. Mostly because qualifying for postseason play — with the Big Ten tournament at Eichelberger Field in Urbana next month — requires escaping the bottom two of the league standings. That's where the Illini (24-21, 3-11 Big Ten) stand ahead of this weekend's series with Michigan State (12-25, 2-12). Outfielder Kelly Ryono (.324 average, 8 HR, 41 RBI) will aim to help Illinois get back on track against the Spartans.
Men's tennis
Brad Dancer and Co. are one of the few Illinois teams playing outside of C-U this weekend with a Friday-Sunday double in the Great Lakes State at Michigan State and No. 7 Michigan, respectively, to close out the regular season. The No. 25 Illini (17-9, 5-2 Big Ten) have won their last two matches and four of their last five. Leading the way has been the No. 36-ranked doubles team of Karlis Ozolins and Hunter Heck.
Women's tennis
Illinois can't catch Michigan at the top of the Big Ten standings, but home matches Saturday against Nebraska and Sunday against Iowa give the Illini a chance to close out their best regular season since 2018. Illinois (17-6, 8-1 Big Ten) notched a top-25 win last week at Wisconsin — its first of the spring — and has its doubles team of Kate Duong and Megan Heuser ranked 15th nationally with a 24-4 record.
Track and field
Illinois' final home meet of the season, which takes place on Friday and Saturday at Demirjian Park, doubles as the inaugural Gary Wieneke Memorial named in honor of the late former Illini coach. Tyler Sudduth, who has won two shot put titles this spring, will compete in both the shot put and discus. National indoor mile champion Olivia Howell, who has top-21 times in the 800-meter run and 1,500-meter run outdoors, will only anchor the 1,600-meter relay for the Illini this weekend.
