April 24, 2005

Box Score

Bloomington, Ind. - Illinois put some runs on the board early and junior Jake Stewart (Normal, Ill.) went seven strong innings in his first career start as Illinois defeated Indiana 7-5 Sunday afternoon at Sembower Field to take three of four from the Hoosiers in the weekend series. The Illini improved to 12-4 in the Big Ten to remain in a first-place tie with Minnesota atop the standings at the midway point of the conference slate. The Gophers were 15-7 winners over Northwestern on Sunday.

"Our players put forth a great effort today to come away with the win," said Head Coach Itch Jones. "You're always happy to be in first place at this point because it means you're going to be right in the middle of things down the stretch. Coming into the year we thought we'd be playing some of the top teams early in the season, but they way things have gone so far we have the other top teams in the standings still to come, so we certainly have our work cut-out for us."

Illinois jumped out in front early, putting up a run in the first and three each in the third and fourth innings to give Stewart a 7-0 lead to work with. Centerfielder Drew Davidson (West Des Moines, Iowa) did the damage early, driving in leftfielder Ryan Rogowski (Livonia, Mich.) with an RBI single in the first, and then driving in two more with a double down the leftfield line in the third. Clean-up hitter Dusty Bensko (Pleasant Plains, Ill.) would plate Davidson with a single in the next a bat and the Illini were out to a 4-0 lead after three.

The Orange and Blue then put three more runs up in the fourth. Catcher Chris Robinson (Dorchester, Ontario) started the inning with a single through the left side and then third baseman Chad Frk (Northfield, Ohio) and right fielder Trevor Huisinga (Bartlett, Ill.) followed with back-to-back bunt singles. Robinson would score when the Indiana catcher threw the ball away on Huisinga's bunt, and then shortstop Toby Gardenhire (Little Canada, Minn.) would drive in both Frk and Huisinga with a two-RBI double to left-centerfield to push the lead to 7-0.

In the meantime, Stewart was challenging Indiana's potent hitters and getting ahead in the count in almost every at bat. He would wind up going a career-best seven innings, scattering 12 hits and allowing just two runs on a two-run home run by Hoosier slugger Joe Kemp. Stewart struck-out three and walked just one to pick-up his first win as an Illini.

"Stewart carried us today," said Jones of the right-hander. "Our bullpen was struggling, so if he hadn't gone seven innings we'd have been in big trouble. He was very aggressive and didn't waste any pitches, which is what you're looking for in a starter. He showed that he's capable of being our No. 3 or No. 4 starter if he continues to pitch like that."

After Stewart was pulled, Indiana made it interesting in the eighth when four walks by UI relievers, three by James Morris (Eldorado, Ill.) and one by Joel Barickman (Streator, Ill.), cut the lead to 7-3, and then a two-out two-run single by Josh Richardson off of Brandon Murphy (Charleston, Ill.) made it 7-5. However, Murphy would get UI catcher Kurt Weigle to lineout to center to end the inning and then came back to retire the Hoosiers in the ninth to notch his first save of the season.

On the day Illinois pounded out 11 hits led by Davidson's 2-5 performance, which included a double, three RBI and a run. Gardenhire was 2-4 with a double and 2 RBI, while Robinson and Frk each had two hits as well.

Illinois (23-12-1, 12-4 Big Ten) will host Eastern Illinois in a midweek clash at Illinois Field Tuesday night (6:05 p.m.) before heading to Penn State for another four-game Big Ten series next weekend.