April 16, 2002

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - The Illinois Baseball team fought off a tough defensive afternoon to escape Charleston with a 5-4 win over Eastern Illinois Tuesday. Illinois (19-9) committed four errors but made a key defensive play in the eighth inning while EIU (12-16) committed five errors and allowed four unearned runs.

EIU opened scoring in the first inning, plating two (one unearned) off Illini starter Andy Dickinson. After Illinois got one of the runs back in the top of the second when Luke Simmons, who had led off the inning with a walk, scored on a Joe Parenti ground out, EIU took a two-run lead right back in the bottom of the second with another run off Dickinson that made the score 3-1 in favor of Eastern Illinois.

Illinois would add single runs in the third, fourth, fifth and sixth innings while UI reliever Justin Olson limited Eastern to one run in five innings of work to set up a 5-4 margin in favor of the Illini after seven innings of play. Olson was pulled in favor of Josh Lane in the eighth, and Lane allowed the first two runners to reach before being lifted in favor of closer Dave Mazurek.

Mazurek entered the game with runners on first and third and no one out. The first batter he faced, catcher Tim Aurrichio, immediately attempted to lay down a suicide squeeze. The play turned disastrous for the EIU rally, however, as Mazurek was able to field the play and throw to catcher Patrick Arlis who tagged out the Eastern runner attempting to score from third. Arlis then caught the other EIU base runner, Mike Gavin, attempting to advance to third. Arlis threw the ball to second baseman Brian Raymond who trapped Gavin in a rundown and Illini first baseman Andy Schutzenhofer was eventully able to tag Gavin out for the unconventional double play that ended the EIU rally.

Illinois failed to add an insurance run in the top of the ninth but Mazurek was able to retire the top of the EIU order in the bottom of the ninth without any damage to record his fourth save of the season.

Illinois got two hits apiece from Drew Davidson, Schutzenhofer and Brandon Cashman, while RBI's came from Simmons, Parenti and Raymond. Justin Olson threw five complete innings, allowing one run (unearned) on five hits to earn the win and improve to 3-1 on the year. EIU's Matt Tyson suffered the loss to fall to 2-2 after throwing one inning and allowing one unearned run on one hit. Mazurek picked up his fourth save after throwing two innings without allowing a run or a hit. He struck out two and walked two.

Illinois returns to action this weekend at Minnesota. Illinois plays Friday at 3 p.m., a Saturday doubleheader at 1 p.m. and a single game Sunday at 1 p.m.

Game Notes: 1. Illinois freshman left fielder Drew Davidson returned to game action for the first time since dislocating his left (non-throwing) shoulder diving for a fly ball last Wednesday at Indiana State. Davidson, who missed Illinois' four game Big Ten series with Michigan over the weekend, went 2-for-3 with two walks to improve his team-leading batting average to .409. 2. Illini center fielder Brandon Cashman was hit by a pitch for the 12th time this season Tuesday afternoon. That ties him for the team lead with shortstop T.F. Meagher and also places him in a tie for seventh on Illinois' single season hit by pitch list. 3. Illini closer Dave Mazurek picked up his fourth save of the season Tuesday afternoon, placing him in a tie for 10th on the Illinois single season and career saves lists.