UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. - No. 8 Illinois capped a perfect weekend in Happy Valley with a 6-3 victory, sweeping Penn State and setting a school record with 17 straight wins. The Illini increased the best start in school history to 36-6-1 and remained in first place in the Big Ten. UI swept PSU for the third year in a row and earned its fourth conference sweep in 2015.
"It's been a fun run," head coach Dan Hartleb said. "Our guys have been doing such a great job of playing together as a team. It's not one guy who has been carrying us. It is a group of guys who are getting their jobs done day after day. Nobody is being selfish and they get along so well. It has been a good group to be around."
Illinois also has won 12 consecutive conference games and started Big Ten action 13-1 for the second time in school history. The only other time both those feats were accomplished was in 1911 under head coach George Huff.
UI's 17-game winning streak is the longest active in the NCAA and second-longest this season behind Texas A&M (24). The Illini are halfway to the NCAA record winning streak of 34 owned by Texas (1977) and Florida Atlantic (1999).
The Illini jumped out to a 4-0 advantage with four runs on five hits in the second. With one out and seniors Casey Fletcher and David Kerian on the corners, senior Will Krug perfectly executed a suicide squeeze bunt for the first run.
After a walk and pop out, junior Ryan Nagle poked a two-out, two-run single to center. Redshirt-senior Reid Roper followed with an RBI single the opposite way to left field.
PSU pushed across an unearned run with an RBI groundout in the third, while the Illini answered in the fifth when Kerian plated Fletcher with a sacrifice fly.
The Nittany Lions capitalized on leadoff doubles with a run in the sixth on an RBI single and another in the seventh on a sacrifice fly, but that is all they would get as the Illini bullpen shut the door.
Junior Jason Goldstein added an insurance run in the ninth with his sixth home run of the season.
Starter John Kravetz improved to 4-0 on the season with six solid innings on Sunday. He is now 23-7 in his career and owns 318 career innings pitched, moving him into third place past Brett Weber (315.2 IP) on the Illinois all-time list. Kevin Johnson holds the school record with 334 innings.
Reliever J.D. Nielsen was sharp in relief in the seventh, while sophomore Cody Sedlock struck out two during a scoreless eighth. Junior Nick Blackburn picked up his second save with a perfect ninth.
Up Next: No. 8 Illinois will play its final midweek game on Tuesday (April 28) at Southern Illinois at 6 p.m. The Illini are a perfect 15-0 in April.
