2018 Illinois Fighting Illini baseball team

The 2018 Illinois Fighting Illini baseball team represented the University of Illinois during the 2018 NCAA Division I baseball season. The Fighting Illini played their home games at Illinois Field as a member of the Big Ten Conference. They were led by head coach Dan Hartleb, in his 13th season at Illinois.

2018 Illinois Fighting Illini baseball
Conference	Big Ten Conference
2018 record	33–20 (15–9 Big Ten)
Head coach	Dan Hartleb (13th season)
Hitting coach	Adam Christ (3rd season)
Pitching coach	Drew Dickinson (7th season)
Home stadium	Illinois Field

2018 Big Ten Conference baseball standings
	Conf							Overall
Team	W		L		PCT			W		L		PCT
No. 15 Minnesota  ‍†‍‡‍	18	–	4		.818			41	–	13		.759
No. 27 Purdue  ‍‍‍	17	–	6		.739			37	–	19		.661
Michigan  ‍‍‍	15	–	8		.652			33	–	21		.611
Illinois  ‍‍‍	15	–	9		.625			33	–	20		.623
Indiana  ‍‍‍	14	–	9		.609			38	–	17		.691
Iowa  ‍‍‍	13	–	9		.591			33	–	20		.623
Ohio State  ‍‍‍	14	–	10		.583			36	–	22		.621
Michigan State  ‍‍‍	11	–	12		.478			20	–	32		.385
Maryland  ‍‍‍	9	–	14		.391			24	–	30		.444
Nebraska  ‍‍‍	8	–	14		.364			24	–	28		.462
Rutgers  ‍‍‍	7	–	16		.304			25	–	25		.500
Northwestern  ‍‍‍	6	–	18		.250			17	–	32		.347
Penn State  ‍‍‍	3	–	21		.125			15	–	34		.306
‡ – Tournament champion As of May 27, 2018[1]; Rankings from Collegiate Baseball

Personnel

Roster

2018 Illinois Fighting Illini roster
	Pitchers 2 – Jimmy Burnette – Freshman 7 – Ty Weber – Sophomore 13 – Ryan Schmitt – Sophomore 16 – Luke Shilling – Junior 19 – Ryan Kutt – Freshman 21 – Zak Devermann – Junior 22 – Cyrillo Watson – Sophomore 29 – Jackson Douglas – Senior 33 – Quinn Snarskis – Junior 34 – Zack Jones – Sophomore 35 – Joey Gerber – Junior 38 – Andy Fisher – RS-Junior 43 – Sean Leland – RS-Junior 44 – Quinten Sefcik – RS-Junior 45 – Ryan Thompson – Sophomore		Catchers 15 – David Craan – Junior 18 – Kellen Sarver – Freshman 25 – Mark Skonieczny – Senior 32 – Jeff Korte – Junior Infielders 4 – Ben Troike – Sophomore 6 – Michael Massey – Sophomore 8 – Ryan Haff – RS-Junior 9 – Bren Spillane – Junior 12 – Michael Michalak – Junior 23 – Tyler Engel – Junior 27 – Grant Van Scoy – Junior 31 – Casey Dodge – RS-Sophomore		Outfielders 3 – Jack Yalowitz – Junior 17 – Jeremiah Lebron – Freshman 20 – Doran Turchin – Junior 28 – Andrew Dyke – RS-Freshman 38 – Zac Taylor – RS-Junior

Reference:[2]

Coaching staff

Name	Position	Seasons at Illinois	Alma Mater
Dan Hartleb	Head Coach	13	Southern Illinois University (1989)
Drew Dickinson	Pitching Coach	7	University of Illinois (2009)
Adam Christ	Hitting Coach	3	University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee (2003)
Casey Fletcher	Volunteer Assistant Coach	2	University of Illinois (2015)

Reference:[3]

Rankings

See also: 2018 NCAA Division I baseball rankings

Ranking movements
Legend: ██ Increase in ranking. ██ Decrease in ranking.
NR = Not ranked. RV = Received votes. т = Tied with team above or below. ( ) = First place votes.

	Week
Poll	Pre	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	Final
Coaches'[4]	NR	NR*	NR*	NR	NR	NR	NR
Baseball America[5]	NR	NR	NR	NR	24	24	22
Collegiate Baseball^[6]	NR	NR	NR	25	25	22	12	15
NCBWA†[7]	NR	NR	NR	RV	RV	RV	25	RV
D1Baseball

^ Collegiate Baseball ranks 40 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season.
† NCBWA ranks 35 teams in their preseason poll, but only ranks 30 teams weekly during the season.
* New poll was not released for this week so for comparison purposes the previous week's ranking is inserted in this week's slot.

References

1. "Big Ten Conference standings". BigTen.org. Retrieved May 27, 2018.
2. "2018 Baseball Roster". Illinois Fighting Illini. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
3. "Baseball Coaching Staff". Illinois Fighting Illini. Retrieved April 5, 2018.
4. Baseball Coaches Poll
5. Baseball America College: Top 25
6. NCAA DIV I Baseball Polls-Collegiate Baseball Newspaper
7. NCBWA Division I poll