April 11, 2004

Box Score

The University of Illinois baseball team rode starter Jimmy Conroy's career-high 11 strikeouts as it won its series finale with Michigan State, 5-1, Sunday afternoon at Illinois Field to salvage a split in the four-game Big Ten series. The win moves Illinois to 10-16 overall and 3-5 in the Big Ten while the Spartans fell to 16-12 overall and 6-2 in the Big Ten.

After watching starter Jimmy Conroy strike out four of the first seven Spartans he faced, the Illini offense got to work in the bottom of the second off MSU starter Craig Brookes. Chris Robinson laced a sharp single to right to lead off the inning and, after a pair of outs and a walk issued to Ryan Hastings, scored when Drew Davidson sent an RBI single to right for a 1-0 lead. With Hastings on third, Davidson on first and Vince DiMaria at the plate, Illinois used a well-executed double steal to plate Hastings and give the Illini an early 2-0 lead.

A lead-off triple from DH Ryan Rogowski led to another Illinois run in the bottom of the fourth. Rogowski's slapped a Brookes offering to the left-center field wall, and he scored right away when Eric Eymann followed with an RBI single to left.

MSU got one back in the top half of the fifth. Conroy had continued to cruise, tying his career high in strikeouts with eight by the end of the fifth inning and not allowing a runner into scoring position until that frame. But James Moreno, who made it to second after a single and ground out, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball to move the lead to 3-1.

Illinois answered right back in the bottom of the sixth to move the lead to 4-1. Robinson reached on a one-out error, went to second when Rogowski followed with a walk and scored from there on an RBI single off the bat of Hastings. Illinois got another in the bottom of the seventh for a 5-1 lead when Huisinga, who drew a one-out walk, scored on a wild pitch from reliever Clay Kovac.

Illini starter Jimmy Conroy earned the win, improving to 5-3 on the year, after allowing only one unearned run in seven complete innings of work. He walked two and struck out a career-high 11. His 11 K's were the most for an Illinois pitcher since the 2001 season, when Illini All-American Andy Dickinson K'd 12 in a win over Iowa. Spartan starter Brookes suffered the loss, falling to 2-3 on the year.

Illinois returns to action Tuesday at Bradley. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.