If last year was any indicator, the Michigan baseball team could be in for its most important series of the season this weekend.

It will also be one of the toughest.

The 22nd-ranked Wolverines, who lead the Big Ten, head to Champaign for a battle against second-place Illinois.

Last year, Michigan came into the series with victories in all of their previous series against Big Ten opponents. But it split against the Fighting Illini.

Although the Wolverines (7-1 Big Ten, 18-8 overall) have a better conference record this season, the Illini (6-3, 18-8) dominate many of the important statistical categories.

Illinois leads the conference in batting average (.334) and runs (193). It also has the fewest errors (22) of all Big Ten teams.

But if the Wolverines play like they did Wednesday in their 12-4 win over Toledo, Illinois might not be much of a problem.

Michigan broke out of its offensive slump, belting three home runs in the game and scoring four runs in each of the first three innings.

"Usually, hitting is contagious," Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. "Normally, if guys start to feel a little bit better about themselves, their confidence grows, and usually, you get better results. We're going to need it against a really good Illinois team."

Although the Wolverines put up 12 runs against a middling Mid-American Conference opponent, they scored just one run in two of four games against Penn State last weekend.

"Our offense is finally starting to come through after a lazy weekend," senior Nate Recknagel said. "It's pretty nice that we're starting to hit well, because we're going into a tough series."

Although Michigan has been inconsistent lately, Maloney and the Wolverines just plan to play their game this weekend.

"If we play error-free baseball and start hitting the baseball, we're a pretty good team," Maloney said.