When a batter hits a home run for the Illini, the hitter and the runners on base gather at home plate, take their helmets off and bump them against each other.

On Tuesday afternoon at Coaches Stadium, helmets were bumping left and right.

“I don’t know what that’s about,” said Illinois head coach Richard ‘Itch’ Jones. “We don’t usually hit this many home runs.”

Sophomore Eric Eymann, who hit his fourth home run Tuesday, had an answer for Jones.

“I saw a picture of it earlier this year and told the team we should do it when we hit a home run,” Eric Eymann said.

Illinois scored 13 runs on 19 hits, four of which were home runs.

“We haven’t been playing real well as of late but we got some guys swinging the bats better,” Jones said.

Coming into the game, the Illini had only hit a team total of 19 home runs in 36 games played. That’s just above one half home run per game.

The 19 Illini hits were also way above their team average of nine hits per game.

Jones credited Drew Davidson’s seventh home run to the wind that was blowing out early in the game.

Brian Long, Ryan Parsons and Eric Huber were all victimized by the Illini bats and taken out of the yard.

Jones said he hopes the hot hitting will continue into the weekend for his Illini.

“It’s much easier going into Friday’s game with a win under our belts,” Jones said.