April 13, 2003

Box Score

Ann Arbor, Mich. - The University of Illinois baseball team dropped its bid to sweep Michigan when the Wolverines staged a ninth inning rally to break a 3-3 tie and pick up a 4-3 win in the series finale at Ray Fisher Stadium in Ann Arbor. Illinois drops to 18-11 overall and 6-6 in the Big Ten while Michigan improves to 14-15 overall and 4-6 in Conference play.

"Today was a disappointing loss but we still had a good weekend," Illini head coach Itch Jones said. "We were able to go on the road and close the gap. We came into this weekend two games under .500 in Big Ten play and got out of here at .500. That's a big improvement and it was an important weekend for us."

Michigan used a one-out ninth inning rally off Illini closer Dave Mazurek to pick up the win. Gino Lollio reached on a fielders choice, stole second and then scored when pinch hitter Chris Burhans grounded to Eric Eymann, who missed the ball and saw it roll into left field as Lollio scored from second to give Michigan a 4-3 win.

For the first time in the series Michigan drew first blood Sunday. The Wolverines used a one-out Mike Sokol double in the first and two straight singles to claim an early 1-0 lead against Brian Blomquist.

Illinois claimed the lead in the top of the third inning off UM lefthanded starter Drew Taylor. Chad Frk, getting his second start of the series at third base, led off with a double, was sacrificed to third by T.F. Meagher and scored on a sac fly off the bat of Eric Eymann to tie the score at 1-1. Illinois then used a two-out rally to claim the lead as Vince DiMaria sent a double to the left field and scored to open a 2-1 lead when Andy Schutzenhofer followed with an RBI single up the middle.

Michigan came back to tie the game in the bottom of the third. Nick Rudden led off the inning with a double to left and eventually scored on a one-out sac fly to center from Brock Koman. Michigan claimed the lead back in the bottom of the third when a one-out walk to Gino Lollio came back to haunt Blomquist when A.J. Scheidt followed with a single that moved Lollio to third, from where he scored when Matt Butler followed with a run-scoring ground out.

Illinois reset the game in the seventh, tying it up at three all as Frk led off with a double for the second time on the day. He advanced to third on a ground out off the bat of T.F. Meagher, and Vince DiMaria plated Frk when he followed Meagher with a single up the middle that tied the game.

Illini starter Brian Blomquist did not factor in the decision but pitched well in his first career Big Ten start. The sophomore allowed three runs on eight hits. He walked one and struck out three. Mazurek suffered the loss, falling to 3-3 on the year after allowing one unearned run in 1 2/3 innings of work. Michigan starter Drew Taylor earned the win, improving to 3-1 on the year after allowing three runs on 11 hits in nine complete innings of work.

Illinois returns to action Tuesday evening at Illinois Field. The Illini will host Bradley, with first pitch is scheduled for 6:35 p.m., before welcoming Big Ten-leading Minnesota at Illinois Field Friday-Sunday.

Game Notes 1. Drew Davidson's second inning single increased his team season-high hitting streak to 14 games. 2. Senior Andy Schutzenhofer, making the 200th start of his career Sunday afternoon, moved into a tie for fourth place on Illinois' career hits list with his single in the third inning. Schutzenhofer now has 263 career hits in an Illinois uniform, tied with Dusty Rhodes and three away from Dave Payton (266). That same RBI single moved him into a tie for eighth place on Illinois' career RBI list. Schutzenhofer has 160 career RBI, tied with Brian Bock and four away from Schutzenhofer's former teammate, D.J. Svihlik, who is in seventh place with 164 career RBI.