SAUGET, Ill. - No. 15 Illinois (21-6-1) picked up a 4-3 Braggin' Rights victory over Missouri (20-10) on Tuesday night at GCS Ballpark. Trailing 3-2 in the sixth, senior David Kerian hit a go-ahead two-run homer that proved to be the game winner. Starter Rob McDonnell nabbed his third win, and the bullpen paved the way for closer Tyler Jay to shut the door for his seventh save.
"It was a very well-played game on both sides," head coach Dan Hartleb said. "You had two very good teams competing in a great college baseball game. After going down by a run, we answered right away with David's big home run. We got a very solid start out of Rob and then our bullpen got key outs in match-up situations before Tyler did an outstanding job with four strikeouts."
With two outs in the fourth and Reid Roper on first via a walk, senior Casey Fletcher recorded the first hit of the game on either side, moving a runner into scoring position. Junior Jason Goldstein drove home Reid Roper with a single to right for a 1-0 lead.
Junior Ryan Nagle knocked in redshirt-sophomore Adam Walton all the way from first with two outs in the fifth when the Missouri center fielder lost the ball in the lights. Halfway through the contest, Illinois held a 2-0 advantage.
Two Tigers reached in the fourth on a hit by pitch and walk but McDonnell left them both on base with a strikeout. The Barrington, Illinois, native did not allow a hit until the fifth when Missouri notched five hits and took a 3-2 lead.
Mizzou tallied three straight singles, including an RBI knock to right center, to start the stanza and tied the contest on a sacrifice fly. With two outs, an infield RBI single with a close play at first plated the third run.
After Goldstein doubled with two outs in the sixth, Kerian, who leads the Big Ten with a career-high seven home runs, poked the two-run shot over the short porch in right for a 4-3 edge. All four Illini runs came with two outs.
McDonnell recorded two outs in the sixth before exiting with runners on the corners. Reliever Nick Blackburn notched the third out with a fly ball to center. He escaped trouble in the seventh after the first two Tigers reached. Blackburn thwarted a sac bunt by getting the lead runner out at third followed by a fly out to left and groundout to second.
After a single in the eighth, junior J.D. Nielsen came in to face a lefty and got a groundout. Sophomore Cody Sedlock took over against a righty and induced another groundout that moved the tying run to third. Jay stranded him there to end the eighth with a strikeout looking and struck out the side swinging in the ninth.
Jay is tied with Bryan Roberts and Jake Toohey for third in school history with 17 career saves.
Up Next: Due to ongoing renovations at Rocky Miller Park, the Big Ten series between No. 15 Illinois and Northwestern scheduled for April 3-5 was moved to Champaign and will be played at Illinois Field. The Illini will host the Wildcats at 6 p.m. on Friday (April 3), 3 p.m. on Saturday (April 4) and 1 p.m. on Sunday (April 5). Admission is free to all regular season home games.
