April 27, 2003
Box Score
The University of Illinois baseball team lost another Sunday heartbreaker today in Evanston, Ill., falling to Northwestern 4-3 in the bottom of the ninth inning. The loss drops Illinois to 20-19 overall and 8-12 in the Big Ten Conference after suffering the sweep at the hands of the Wildcats. Northwestern is now 18-16 overall and 10-8 in Conference play.
"Brian Blomquist did a very good job for us today," Illini head coach Itch Jones said. "He got out of some jams and pitched well enough to win, but the offense left too many runners on base and wasn't able to score runs when we had the opportunity to have a big inning."
Northwestern jumped to a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning. Brian Blomquist hit leadoff man Eric Roeder, who went to third on a Mark Ori single before scoring on a sac fly to right off the bat of shortstop Jon Mikrut.
Illinois tied the game in to top of the second. Drew Davidson and Trevor Frederickson led off with back-to-back singles off starter Mark Ori, and they advanced to second and third on a sac bunt from Chris Robinson before an error by NU right fielder Brandon Ackley on an apparent sac fly from Chad Frk allowed Drew Davidson to score and left runners on second and third.
Illinois claimed the lead in the game in the top of the fourth. For the second time in the game Davidson led off with a single and stole second before coming home on a two-out RBI single off the bat of Chad Frk, who collected his second RBI of the day to give the Illini a 2-1 lead.
Northwestern reclaimed the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning. Dan Pohlman led off with a solo home run to left that tied the game, and NU added another run before the inning was over to open a 3-2 lead.
Illinois tied the game in the fifth. T.F. Meagher came to the plate with runners on first and second and two out and delivered a run-scoring single to left that plated Frk to tie the game.
The game stayed tied until the bottom of the ninth, when Northwestern used a walk, error and single to plate Dan Pohlman and pull out the 4-3 win.
Brian Blomquist was the hard-luck loser for Illinois. After throwing one of his best games in an Illini uniform the sophomore fell to 1-2 on the year after allowing four runs on nine hits in a career-high eight-plus innings of work. NU reliever Jon Mikrut picked up the win, improving to 1-1 on the season after throwing 1 2/3 innings of scoreless relief.
The Illini offense, which left 13 runners on base for the second time in the series, was led offensively by Eric Eymann, Drew Davidson, Brandon Cashman and T.F. Meagher, who each had two hits on the afternoon.
Illinois returns to action Tuesday on the road against Southern Illinois. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. The Illini then return home for a five-game homestand with a single game Wednesday at 6:35 p.m. against IPFW before playing host to the Michigan State Spartans for a four-game Big Ten series Friday-Sunday.
