April 19, 2003

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - The University of Illinois baseball team used a fifth inning bases-clearing double from Andy Schutzenhofer to defeat Minnesota, 4-2, in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader to hand the Gophers their first defeat in Big Ten play this year. Illinois improved to 19-13 overall and 7-7 in the Big Ten with the win while Minnesota fell to 22-12 overall and 11-1 in the Big Ten.

Scoring began quickly in Saturday's first game. Minnesota's Sam Steidl reached on an error to lead off the game and three-straight singles later he scored to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead off Illini starter Josh Lane.

Illinois came right back in the bottom of the first off Gopher starter C.J. Woodrow. Joe Parenti sent a one-out single to right and scored from first on a Drew Davidson double to the right field corner.

The Illini jumped out to a 4-1 lead in the bottom of the fifth. Illinois loaded the bases with one out when T.F. Meagher and Eric Eymann singled and Joe Parenti was hit by a pitch before senior first baseman Andy Schutzenhofer stepped to the plate and delivered a bases-clearing double, his second two-bagger of the day, to the left field corner.

Minnesota closed the gap in the top of the seventh. With two outs, Ben Pattee reached on a fielders choice and Luke Appert walked before Scott Welch hit a double to left that plated Pattee and put the tying run on second. But Dave Mazurek came in to relieve Lane and induced Jeremy Hunter to ground out to end the game and hand Illinois a 4-2 win.

Lane (4-0) earned the win after throwing 6 2/3 innings, allowing two runs on seven hits. Mazurek earned his sixth save of the year after throwing 1/3 of an inning. Woodrow, the reigning Big Ten Pitcher of the Year, suffered the loss to fall to 4-3 on the year after allowing four runs on seven hits in six innings of work.

Illinois concludes its series with Minnesota with a single nine inning game with first pitch scheduled for 1:05 p.m.

Game Notes 1. Senior Andy Schutzenhofer's 2-for-3, 3-RBI day moved him up on some of the career charts. He now ranks third in hits (267) and fourth in doubles (50).