March 29, 2000

Box Score

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The University of Illinois baseball team won its second game in a row, 3-0, over Ball State this afternoon at Illinois Field. Illini starter Mitch Walk (1-1) got the win after throwing 5 1/3 innings of one hit ball and striking out nine. With the win Illinois improves to 15-7 on the year while Ball State falls to 11-8.

"I thought Mitch pitched very well today," Illini Head Coach Itch Jones said. "He had good command of his pitches. Including the Iowa series, Mitch has now thrown nine shutout innings, so he's been throwing exceptionally well."

The Illini offense got three runs in the second off Cardinals starter Adam Sheefel, who suffered the loss to drop to 1-3 on the year, and that was all the pitching staff needed as it tuned up for this weekend's series against Northwestern in Evanston. Walk threw the first 5 1/3 and was relieved by Ryan Kvasnicka, who gave up one hit in 1 2/3, and Joe Ziemba and Matt Vorwald, who each held Ball State hitless for one inning apiece. Vorwald threw the ninth and struck out two to earn the save, his fourth of the year. The shutout was the first thrown by the pitching staff this year, who also struck out a season-high 13 Cardinals batters.

Illinois scored in the second when Rob Fischer led off with a single. He moved to third on a D.J. Svihlik single and scored on a single from Jeff Gertz. Gertz would later score on a single from leadoff hitter Chris Basak, and Joe Parenti, who reached on a fielders choice, scored from third as Basak was caught stealing second.

Illinois travels to Evanston this weekend for a four-game Big Ten series at Northwestern. Game one is Friday at 2 p.m., Saturday's doubleheader starts at noon and Sunday's game four is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Rocky Miller Park on the Evanston campus.