March 8, 2003

Box Score

Louisville, Ky. - The University of Illinois baseball team scored in double digits for the third time in as many tries en route to an 11-3 win over Louisville this afternoon at Cardinal Stadium in Louisville, Ky. Illinois improved to 3-0 on the young season while Louisville fell to 8-4 with the loss.

Louisville got on the board first in the bottom of the first inning, taking a 1-0 lead. Illini starter Josh Lane loaded the bases with no one out, managed to strike out Louisville's four and five hitters, but walked Curt Stewart out of the six spot in the line-up to allow a run. Lane came back to retire the next batter, limiting the damage to one U of L run as the Cardinals stranded three in inning.

Illinois answered the Louisville rally with fireworks of their own in the top of the second. Drew Davidson led off with a ground rule double, and Trevor Huisinga followed with a walk, bringing Brandon Cashman to the plate. Cashman answered with a towering home run over the right field wall, giving Illinois a 3-1 lead. The rally wasn't over there, as with two outs in the same inning, catcher Sean Patrick beat out an infield single and scored when T.F. Meagher followed with a double to the centerfield wall to open up a 4-1 lead. Before the inning was over, Illinois had sent 10 batters to the plate and added two more runs when Meagher came home on a passed ball and Joe Parenti hit a solo home run over the right field wall.

Illinois added two more in the top of the third. Trevor Huisinga led off with a single to left and Cashman walked, chasing U of L starter Mike Eilers. Dusty Bensko greeted reliever Jon Harbridge with a double to the wall that plated both runners, giving Illinois an 8-2 lead heading into the bottom of the third.

Louisville picked up a single run in the bottom of the fourth to close the gap to 8-3, but Illinois took it back and opened a 9-3 lead in the top of the sixth when Parenti hit a one-out double, went to third on an Andy Schutzenhofer ground ball and scored on a wild pitch. The lead grew to 10-3 in the top of the seventh when Illinois loaded the bases with no one out and eventually plated Cashman on a sac fly off the bat of Sean Patrick.

The score grew to 11-3 in the eighth when Parenti led off with a double, his third extra base hit of the day, and scored one batter later when Schutzenhofer singled him in.

Josh Lane went seven complete innings to earn the win and improve to 1-0 on the year. The senior allowed three runs (all earned) and six hits in his first outing of the year. He walked four and struck out four. Louisville starter Mike Eilers (2-1) suffered the loss. He allowed eight earned runs on six hits in two innings.

Illinois and Louisville will conclude their three-game series with a single game Sunday at noon central time.

Game Notes 1. Brandon Cashman's three-run home run was Illinois' third in its first three games. Drew Davidson hit one in the season-opener against Kansas State and Joe Parenti connected on a three-run blast in the seventh inning of Friday's game one against Louisville. 2. Andy Schutzenhofer's RBI single in the eighth inning put him into a tie for ninth place on Illinois' all-time hits list. Schutzenhofer now has 233 career hits, tying him with former Illini second baseman D.J. Svihlik. 3. Illinois batted around in the top of the second, continuing its three game streak of batting around at least once each game this season. 4. With its six-run second inning, Illinois now has now scored four or more runs in five of its 27 innings played so far this season. 5. Freshmen righthander Jake Toohey made his Illini career this afternoon, throwing the final two innings. He did not allow a hit and struck out five.