Colin Quagliano has been a starting infielder for the Fighting Illini this year.

***This will be the first in a series of stories about Coltin Quagliano by Jami Townsend 

Many athletes dream of becoming Division 1 athletes, but very few are able to see their dreams come to fruition. Not for lack of effort or desire, but because those coveted D1 scholarships and walk-on opportunities are severely limited. 

One local athlete, Coltin Quagliano, is experiencing rare air as a member of the University of Illinois baseball team. Not only is he a member of the team, the junior infielder is thriving as one of the teams’ best players. 

It gets even better. The Fighting Illini (34-19) are in the midst of one of their best seasons and Quagliano is there taking it all in. Illinois won the Big 10 Championship this year and tonight (Friday) they’ll be playing in the NCAA Tournament. 

On Monday, Illinois (the No. 3 seed) found out they’ll be in the Lexington Regional where they’ll play No. 2 Indiana State (42-13) at 6 pm CT on ESPN+.

In his own words…

Hours prior to todays’ game, the former Wethersfield/A-W Titans standout took a few minutes to reflect on what this journey through baseball means to him. 

“It’s a dream come true. If you were to tell me I would be playing post-season baseball in a regional in Lexington Kentucky when I was in high school, I wouldn’t have believed you,” said Quagliano. 

“It’s been a crazy and unmatched journey, due to the amount of early morning lifts, long practices and hard work put day in and day out. This is a moment that I have dreamed of since I was a little kid,” he added.

“Playing post-season baseball is a feeling that’s hard to describe. However, it’s something that, as a team, we wanted to accomplish. We’re all really close on and off the field,” said Quagliano. 

“These guys are my brothers for life and with the amount of energy and sacrifice we have put into this game, we knew we could do whatever we put our minds to. It’s been a fun and long journey, but we aren’t done yet,” he added.

2024 Season Stats 

Batting average: .314 (64-204) Slugging %: .555

Doubles (12) Triples (1) Home runs (9) 

Runs (42) RBI (55)

Fielding %: .898

Coltin Quagliano helped lead the Illinois squad to the Big Ten regular-season championship.

Road trip

Several friends and members of Coltin’s family are making the trek to Lexington to take in the game. His parents, Michelle DeReu Quagliano (mother) and Chris Quagliano (father) are chief among them. Coltin’s Aunt, Anne Frank, will also be in attendance – along with Chris’s wife, Jessica, and their two children, Lucca and Millie. 

“I’m not sure what the levels of excitement are, but whatever the highest level is, that’s what we are,” said Chris Quagliano. 

When asked what it’s like watching his son live out his dream, Quagliano said “It’s inspiring and gratifying. I’m super proud and just elated for him. He has accomplished a goal that he set for himself at a very young age,” he added. “That’s a parent’s heart’s desire.”

Once the location announcement was made on Monday, things were quickly set into motion by those planning to attend. “Each player is allowed six tickets to the game, so that part is taken care of,” noted Chris. 

Hotel accommodations, however, were a whole other story. “That part was a bit of a nightmare. In addition to the NCAA Tournament there’s a huge concert in the area, so finding a hotel (that we didn’t have to spend a month’s salary on) was difficult,” he added. “The prices were really hiked up because of all the traffic there right now.” 

Lexington Regional 

The four teams in the Lexington Regional are Illinois, Indiana State, Kentucky and Western Michigan.

Regional host and No. 2 national seed Kentucky (40-14) will face No. 4 seed Western Michigan (32-21) on Friday at 11 a.m. CT on SEC Network in the other first round matchup.

The double-elimination regionals are hosted at 16 sites with the winners advancing to the NCAA Super Regionals at campus sites to be determined. The winner of the Lexington Regional is set to face the winner from the Corvallis Regional on June 7-9.

Illinois is making its first tournament appearance since 2019 and for the fifth time under head coach Dan Hartleb. Hartleb has taken the Illini to more NCAA Tournaments than any other head coach in program history.

Part of being a Big Ten baseball player is hitting the weight room regularly.

The two programs met twice during the regular season, splitting the two contests. The home team came away victorious in each contest, with the Orange and Blue falling, 7-6, on March 12 in Terre Haute before a 21-11 run-rule triumph on April 30 in Champaign against a Sycamores squad that was ranked No. 24. 

The Illini hit .361 as a team over the two games, reaching base at a .446 clip and slugging .806 for a team OPS of 1.252. The Illini blasted nine home runs, with seven of them coming during the ballgame on April 30. Coltin Quagliano led the way in average, going 6-for-8 (.750) and Ryan Moerman provided the power, mashing three home runs and driving in nine.