April 2, 2000

Box Score

EVANSTON, Ill. - The University of Illinois baseball team completed a weekend sweep of the Northwestern Wildcats with a 5-2 extra innings win in Evanston. It was the third win Illinois picked up in extra frames over the weekend, and it improved Illinois' record to 19-7 overall and 7-1 in conference play.

Illinois fell behind 2-0 as NU plated two early runs off Illini starter Mitch Walk. But Illinois came back with two of its own as Rob Fischer hit in Joe Parenti and Brady Ballard on a single to center in the top of the sixth inning.

And that's where the scoring would stay until the 13th. Walk would throw nine innings, allowing only two runs while striking out nine. Matt Vorwald came on in relief of Walk and Andy Dickinson and pitched scoreless 10th and 11th innings, including pitching out of a bases loaded, nobody out jam in the 10th. Joe Sprengard then came in and threw a scoreless 12th to set the Illini up for the 13th.

In the 13th, Joe Parenti led off with a single to left. After Chris Basak struck out, Brady Ballard singled Parenti to third. With Craig Marquie at the plate, Illinois attempted its second game-winning suicide squeeze in as many days. And Marquie took a dive at a ball well out of the strike zone, but made contact before falling to the ground as Parenti came home. Marquie would be tagged out by the pitcher for the second out. On the play Ballard moved to second and he later came home on a single from Andy Schutzenhofer. Illinois got its final insurance run home when Rob Fischer, who walked, came home on a Jeff Gertz single.

Sprengard would go on to pitch a 1-2-3 bottom of the 13th to earn the win, his second of the season and second in Big Ten play.