May 14, 2011

Box Score

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Illinois jumped ahead early and John Anderson posted a quality start to give the Illini a 7-4 victory at Lambert Field on Saturday to even their series with Purdue. Adam Davis and Willie Argo each collected two hits on the day as the Orange and Blue improved to 21-25 overall, 11-9 in the Big Ten, and moved into a tie for third in the conference standings with the Boilermakers.

"We played a complete game today," Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb said. "Anderson was outstanding today. He gave us a great start. Defensively, we made some great plays and early in the game, we really swung the bats. We were much better from a technical standpoint and did a good job with runners in scoring position."

The Illini struck first, posting a pair of runs in the first inning. With two outs, catcher Adam Davis singled sharply to center and came home on third baseman Brandon Hohl's double down the right-field line. Left fielder Casey McMurray followed with a double to right-center, driving in Hohl and giving Illinois a 2-0 lead.

After a five-pitch first inning by starting pitcher John Anderson, the Illini bats went back to work in the second. Center fielder Willie Argo led off with a base hit through the right side and, after an out, shortstop Josh Parr moved him to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run. Second baseman Pete Cappetta brought in Argo with a deep sacrifice fly to right-center, pushing Illinois' lead to 3-0.

Purdue catcher Kevin Plawecki cut the margin to two runs with a leadoff home run in the second inning but Anderson quickly righted the ship, retiring the next three hitters he faced to keep the Illini up 3-1.

Anderson retired the Boilers in order on six pitches in the third, keeping his pitch count at 23 through three innings. The offense kept it rolling in the fourth as Dittman led off the inning with a single through the left side and moved to second on Argo's groundout. Right fielder Davis Hendrickson lined a single into left-center, plating Dittman and pushing the Illinois lead to 4-1.

The Boilers drew closer in the fourth after a leadoff triple by second baseman Eric Charles and a one-out sacrifice fly by Plawecki, cutting the Illini lead to 4-2.

Illinois added two more runs in the fifth after a one-out infield hit by Davis, who stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. He scored when Purdue shortstop David Miller mishandled McMurray's potential inning-ending grounder and Dittman was hit by a pitch. Argo drew a walk to load the bases and McMurray scampered home on a wild pitch to increase Illinois' margin to 6-2.

Purdue fought back in the bottom of the sixth with a one-out single, a triple by third baseman Cameron Perkins and an RBI groundout by Plawecki, cutting the Illini lead to 6-4.

After the Illini went down in order in the seventh, Anderson rebounded by posting a 1-2-3 inning in the bottom half on only eight pitches to keep Illinois up 6-4.

Argo knocked a one-out single to left in the eighth, stole second and moved to third on Hendrickson's groundout to second base, but Parr grounded out to end the inning. Anderson gave up a one-out single in the bottom half and hit third baseman Cameron Perkins with two outs, but he was able to strike out Plawecki to keep the Boilers off the board.

Cappetta led off the ninth inning with a triple to right-center and, one out later, Davis lifted a sacrifice fly to right field to drive him in and extend Illinois' lead to 7-4. Anderson came out to attempt to finish the game but gave up a pair of singles sandwiched around two fly-outs, and Hartleb brought in Wes Braun to close it out. He threw three straight balls to Purdue left fielder Stephen Talbott before finding the strike zone and inducing a fly-out to Argo to seal the victory and record his sixth save.

Davis led the offense, going 2-for-4 with a steal, an RBI and two runs, and Argo was 2-for-3 with a run and a steal. Cappetta was 1-for-4 with a triple, an RBI and a run, and Dittman went 1-for-3 with a run. Hohl, McMurray and Hendrickson also recorded RBIs.

Anderson was solid, allowing four runs on eight hits over 8 2/3 innings to record his sixth win of the season. He didn't walk anyone, hit a batter and struck out three.

The Illini and Boilers square off in the rubber game of the series on Sunday at 2:05 p.m. CT, a contest that will be televised live on the Big Ten Network. Left-hander Corey Kimes will get the start for Illinois, while Purdue will send right-hander Joe Haase to the mound.