April 27, 2004

Box Score

Charleston, Ill. - The University of Illinois baseball team used a three-run seventh, four-run eighth and three-run ninth to defeat Eastern Illinois, 13-3, this afternoon at Coaches Field in Charleston. The win, highlighted by home runs from Drew Davidson, Vince DiMaria, Eric Eymann and Chris Robinson, moves Illinois to 16-21 overall while EIU falls to 16-22.

Illinois opened scoring in the top of the second, as Drew Davidson reached on a single, went to second when Ryan Hastings followed with a single, to third when Ryan Rogowski was hit by a pitch and scored one batter later when Shawn Roof grounded out.

Davidson made it 2-0 in the fourth when he sent his seventh home run of the season over the left field wall.

After Jimmy Conroy threw two scoreless and Joe Ziemba followed with one scoreless inning, Eastern touched Emanuel Bishop for a run in the bottom of the fourth. A one-out walk came back to haunt Bishop as Paul Dean ripped an RBI double to the centerfield wall to close the gap to 2-1.

Illinois added another in the top of the sixth. Rob Sullivan reached on a lead-off two base error, went to third on a Chris Robinson single and came in to score when Ryan Rogowski hit a one-out sacrifice fly to center.

Vince DiMaria made it 4-1 in the top of the seventh with a lead-off home run over the left field wall. Illinois added two more in the same frame when Chris Robinson reached on a two-out single and JR Kyes followed with a walk, and both scored on back-to-back singles from Hastings and Rogowski.

Illinois made it 10-1 in the eighth in an inning highlighted by a two-run home run courtesy of Chris Robinson, an RBI double from Eric Eymann and RBI single from Rob Sullivan.

EIU added two in the eighth on a one-out triple to close the margin to 10-3, but Eymann got it back for Illinois in the top of the ninth when he sent a two-run home run to center for a 12-3 lead. Jim Sharwarko added a one-out RBI single in the same frame to open the final 13-3 lead.

Illini starter Jimmy Conroy got the win, improving to 6-3 on the year after throwing two scoreless innings. Offensively, Big Ten Player of the Week Chris Robinson continued to have a hot bat, The sophomore was 4-for-5 with a home run, two runs and two RBI. Freshman second baseman Ryan Hastings went 3-for-4 with a walk and hit by pitch, and Eric Eymann added three RBI on the afternoon.

Illinois returns to action this weekend against Penn State. Friday's first pitch is at 6:35 p.m., Saturday's doubleheader is set for a 4:05 first pitch and first pitch for Sunday's game four is 11:30 a.m.