March 4, 2007

Box Score

EDINBURG, Texas - Shortstop Shawn Roof tied the school record with four stolen bases and centerfielder Kyle Hudson had the first four-hit game of his career to lead the Illini past Stephen F. Austin, 11-6. Hudson was 4-for-5 with four RBI, while Roof, third baseman Brandon Wikoff and catcher Lars Davis each had three hits. With the win, the Illini finish the Al Ogletree Classic 2-1 and can tie for the tournament championship if Texas-Pan American loses one of their two games later today.

"Kyle had a very, very good day," Hartleb said. "He continues to improve at the plate. All of our speed guys - Hudson, Roof, Bonadonna and Wikoff - had very high on-base percentages today, so that allowed our other hitters to get pitches up in the strike zone that they could hit hard."

Illinois struck first with a pair of runs in the second inning. With one out, first baseman Mike Rohde reached on an error by the shortstop and moved to second on second baseman Joe Bonadonna's groundout. Centerfielder Kyle Hudson walked and third baseman Brandon Wikoff collected his second hit of the game to drive in Rohde. Shortstop Shawn Roof singled home Hudson for a 2-0 Illini lead.

But the Lumberjacks fought back with a pair of runs in the fourth on a two-run homer and scored once in the fifth after a pair of Illini errors, a walk and a hit batter, taking a 3-2 lead.

Illinois tied the game in the sixth when Bonadonna drew a lead-off walk and Hudson blooped a double down the left-field line. One out later, Bonadonna scored on Roof's groundout, drawing the Illini even at 3-3.

Stephen F. Austin regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth, scoring a run on a walk, a sacrifice and a single to take a 4-3 advantage.

The Illini got rolling in the seventh, pushing three runs across. Catcher Lars Davis led off with a single and moved to second when leftfielder Ryan Snowden walked. After Rohde bunted the runners over, Bonadonna lined a single into right-center, driving home Davis. Hudson then laced another base hit to right-center, plating Snowden and Bonadonna and giving the Orange and Blue a 6-4 lead.

"The big difference in the game today was that we executed well and came up with some big plays," Illinois coach Dan Hartleb said. "A great example of that was Mike Rohde bunting two guys over in the seventh inning, then Joe Bonadonna coming up with a big base hit."

With two outs in the eighth, Snowden shot a double over the third-base bag and was pinch run for with Nick Stockwell. Rohde reached on a fielding error by the shortstop and Bonadonna walked to load the bases. Once again, Hudson came through in the clutch, lining a single into right-center to score Stockwell and Rohde to give the Illini an 8-4 lead.

The 'Jacks threatened in the bottom of the eighth, as reliever Ben Reeser gave up a lead-off walk, a single and a ground-rule double before he was lifted in favor of Brian Long. Long coaxed a sacrifice fly - on which Hudson made a diving catch to save a run - a groundout and another flyout to Hudson to get out of the jam while preserving an 8-6 lead.

Illinois put up some insurance runs in the top of the ninth when Roof led off with a single and stole second. One out later, pinch-hitter Aaron Ifft was hit by a pitch, and both runners came around to score on Davis' triple down the right-field line. After Stockwell was hit, Rohde drove in Davis with a sacrifice fly to left, pushing the lead to 11-6.

Up Next: Illinois returns to the state of Texas next weekend for a three-game series at Texas-Arlington. First pitch of the series is set for Friday at 6:30 p.m.