The MSU baseball team hopes to ride a hot streak all the way to the Big Ten Tournament as they head to Champaign, Ill. for a four-game series with the Illinois Fighting Illini.

The series starts Friday and ends Sunday, with a doubleheader sandwiched on Saturday. The Spartans, who missed the Big Ten Tournament last year, have won eight of their last nine and find themselves on the cusp of making the six-team field. MSU is currently in seventh place with a 13-14 conference record. Illinois sits in a fifth-place tie with Ohio State at 14-12.

It would be the first Big Ten Tournament bid for head coach David Grewe, in his second season as head coach of the Spartans. Two different scenarios would allow the Spartans to play in their first Big Ten Tournament in three years. MSU would need to win three games out of four over Illinois, or earn a split and hope Penn State sweeps Ohio State.

Several Spartans have been swinging hot bats, including junior infielder Steve Gerstenberger. Gerstenberger is batting .409 and has hit safely in his last eight games. MSU is 8-1 since moving Gerstenberger into the leadoff spot in the batting order. Junior infielder/outfielder Evan Friedland hit .579 and knocked in 11 runs over a period of six games last week, which included a sweep of Northwestern.