May 6, 2005

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - Illinois scored seven runs in the first inning and never looked back in a 21-4 rout of Northwestern Friday night in front of 708 fans at Illinois Field. Illini ace Brian Blomquist (Carol Stream, Ill.) tossed an efficient 96-pitch complete game, and first baseman Dusty Bensko (Pleasant Plains, Ill.) hit a grand slam in a nine-run fourth inning as Illinois improved to 28-14-1 overall and a Big Ten-best 15-6 in the conference. With Minnesota's 3-2 victory over Iowa Friday night in Iowa City, Illinois maintains a two-game lead over the Gophers and is now three games up on the Hawkeyes.

"We talked about how they've had our number the last few years," said Bensko of Northwestern's 9-2 mark against the Illini over the last three seasons. "But we've improved a lot and we wanted to come out and make a statement tonight. You never expect to put up 21 runs on a Big Ten team, but this is just one win so we'll come back tomorrow and take it one game at a time."

Illinois pounded Wildcat starter Evan Blesoff to the tune of seven hits and seven runs in the first inning as 12 men went to the plate. Bensko and third baseman Chad Frk (Northfield, Ohio) both had two-RBI doubles in the opening frame. The Orange and Blue added one more in the second and then blew the game wide open with nine runs on only four hits in the fourth to make the score 17-1.

Robinson led off the big inning by reaching on an error by the shortstop, then Bensko, DH Mike Rohde (Brookfield, Wis.) and centerfielder Drew Davidson (West Des Moines, Iowa) followed with three straight hits before Blesoff was finally pulled. NU reliever Bob Ferla then proceeded to walk four of the next five Illini hitters before Bensko cleared the bases with his league-leading 12th home run, a grand slam to left field that lifted his season RBI total to a Big Ten-best 55.

Blomquist, meanwhile, was cruising, allowing eight hits and four earned runs in an efficient complete game to improve to 9-2 on the season. Of his 96 pitches on the night, 66 were for strikes.

"I've been lucky to pitch when we score a lot of runs," said Blomquist of his tremendous run support. "When that happens, you just try to go out, throw strikes, let the hitters get themselves out and keep your defense on their toes. The hardest part was staying loose. I had to go down to the bullpen a few times tonight. But it's great to get that many runs."

Illinois finished the night with 19 hits, led by Bensko's 3-for-6, three-run, six-RBI night and Rohde's 3-for-4, three-run, one-RBI night. Second baseman J.R. Kyes had a three-run homer in the seventh, his fourth of the year, and finished the night 2-for-5 with two runs and four RBI. Leftfielder Ryan Rogowski (Livonia, Mich.), Davidson and reserve catcher Jim Sharwarko (Downers Grove, Ill.) each had two hits on the night, and shortstop Toby Gardenhire (Little Canada, Minn.) drove in three runs.

Illinois (28-14-1, 15-6) and Northwestern (21-20, 10-11) will square off in a doubleheader Saturday evening at Illinois Field beginning at 4:05 and will close the four-game series on Sunday with a 1:05 first pitch.