April 25, 2008
University Park, Pa. - The Penn State baseball team will make its first trip to Illinois since the 2004 season this weekend for a four-game series with the Illini. Penn State and Illinois did not play in the regular season for the past two years, although the Nittany Lions did defeat Illinois in the Big Ten Tournament last season.
The Nittany Lions will take a six-game winning streak into this weekend's series, their longest of the season and just one off their longest winning streak of last season. Penn State played the longest collegiate game in both innings and time in Medlar Field at Lubrano Park history on Wednesday night to win their sixth straight with a 5-4, 13-inning win over Youngstown State.
Penn State (17-21, 8-8 Big Ten) has also won its last five Big Ten games. dating back to two weekends ago when it won the final game of the Purdue series, and then last weekend when it swept Indiana. The Illini (23-14, 9-7) are also playing well as of late, as they won two midweek games this week as well and have won five of their last six, including taking three out of four from Minnesota a weekend ago after being swept by first place Michigan two weeks ago.
This series could end up being an important series in the Big Ten standings, as the Illini enter the weekend in third place, one game ahead of both Penn State and Northwestern, who are tied for fifth place, and a half-game ahead of Ohio State, which leads the Nittany Lions and Wildcats by a half-game. As of the current Big Ten standings, Illinois is the last remaining team that Penn State will play this year that is ahead of the Nittany Lions. Penn State has already played first place Michigan, second place Purdue, and fourth place Ohio State.