Hoosiers head to Illinois

The Hoosiers (21-15, 5-7) will travel to Champaign, Ill., this weekend to take on the Fighting Illini. IU will return to conference play coming off a tough 10-5 loss to Miami University. \nThis will be the third of eight four-game series against Big Ten opponents. The Hoosiers split their series with Northwestern, dropped three games to Minnesota and split their series with Iowa. \nIn the last game with Iowa, IU exploded offensively for 25 runs. The players said this is what they need to repeat against Illinois. \n"Hitting-wise, we need to get back to the Iowa game and have everybody hitting like that," junior Ryan Parker said. "We just need to stay focused the whole weekend and stay in the race for the Big Ten."\nThe Illini are also 5-7 in the Big Ten and are looking to win their first Big Ten series of the year. According to IU coach Bob Morgan, better pitching will be the key for IU to win the series.\n"This is a big series where we would like to win three out of four games and even-up our record in the Big Ten," Morgan said. "We have to pitch better overall than we have been in all facets, including starting and relief."\nStarting for the Hoosiers will be fifth-year senior Nick Vitielliss. Vitielliss is 3-2 on the season with a 4.84 ERA. Like his coach, the Waldorf, Md., native emphasized the importance of better pitching. \n"From a pitching standpoint, we need to take control of the game; we have been giving up too many hits in the past couple series," Vitielliss said. "I am real excited to go out there and give the team an opportunity to win."\nThe last two games, the IU pitching staff has given up combined19 runs. Although they scored 25 runs in one of those games to get the win, the players believe they must put together a good overall game. \n"We have not put a complete game together recently," junior Jay Brant said. "It has either been really good pitching or good hitting, and to beat Illinois, we have to put this all together."\nBrant also said he is excited to play on the road. \n"We have struggled a little bit at home recently, and I am looking forward to going on the road and taking it to somebody else's backyard," Brant said. \nSo far this year, the Hoosiers are 8-9 on the road and 13-6 at home. After taking on the Fighting Illini, the team will be back in action with its fifth conference weekend at home against Ohio State. \nThe first game this weekend is set for 6:30 p.m. Friday night at Illinois Field. \n-- Contact staff writer Alex Witteveld at pawittev@indiana.edu.