April 3, 2002

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - A day after putting 14 hits and 14 runs on the board Illinois came out swinging again against Western Michigan, scoring 16 runs on 15 hits for a 16-7 win. Illinois improved to 13-4 with the win as the Broncos fell to 7-9.

"This was a very good series for us," Illinois head coach Itch Jones said. "I thought we got out of it what I wanted - we got pitchers ready for the weekend and we got a lot of kids swings at the plate. We scored some runs and hopefully got the offense back on track."

Illinois scored 12 times in the first three innings to jump out to a 12-2 lead. They scored three in the first after Brandon Cashman started the game with a single to right. Illinois added one more in the second off a Joe Parenti home run, his third of the year, before the offense exploded for eight in the third off Bronco starter J.R. Mathes. The big blows of the inning included a two-run home run from Drew Davidson and a solo shot from Patrick Arlis right behind him. Second baseman Brian Raymond added an RBI triple in the third and Arlis also had an RBI double in the same frame.

A day after 11 Illinois batters collected a hit, 10 did so today. T.F. Meagher, Andy Schutzenhofer, Arlis, Parenti and Raymond each had two hits on the day while Davidson and Arlis each collected three RBI.

Illinois starter Justin Olson started the game and threw three innings, allowing two runs on four hits to improve to 1-1 on the year. Dave Mazurek, James Morris, Brian Blomquist, Jimmy Conroy and Tim Gorski combined to throw the final six innings, allowing just five runs on seven hits.

Illinois (13-4/1-3) hosts Purdue in a four-game Big Ten series this weekend at Illinois Field. Friday's game one is set for 6:35 p.m., Saturday's doubleheader will begin at 4:05 p.m. and first pitch for Sunday's series finale will be at 1:05 p.m.