CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - With their 25th straight win on Thursday night, the No. 2 Fighting Illini baseball team clinched the 2015 Big Ten regular season championship. Illinois defeated Nebraska 6-3 at Illinois Field and notched the longest winning streak in the nation in 2015. The Illini earned their 30th Big Ten title in program history and first since 2011.
Illinois jumped out of the gate with three straight hits and a sacrifice fly for a 2-0 lead. Leadoff hitter Adam Walton ripped a double down the left field line and scored on junior Ryan Nagle's RBI single. Reid Roper put runners on the corners with a single and junior Jason Goldstein plated Nagle with a deep fly to center.
With one out and one on in the fourth, sophomore Pat McInerney drilled a two-run homer for his fifth bomb this season. The Orange and Blue led 4-0 after four innings.
The Illini tacked on two runs in the sixth for a 6-0 advantage. Senior Will Krug plated senior Casey Fletcher with a two-out RBI single. Senior David Kerian scored Illinois' final run when he touched home before Krug was tagged out on sophomore Ryne Roper's RBI fielder's choice.
Nebraska cut the Illini lead in half with a three-run homer in the seventh, but that is all the Huskers would score.
Starter Kevin Duchene (10-1) pitched Illinois to victory with seven solid innings. He became the first Illini to reach double-digit wins since Brian Blomquist in 2005 and improved to 23-3 in his career. He is also 11-0 in Big Ten games.
Reliever Andrew Mamlic recorded a fly out to start the eighth before giving up a double. Closer Tyler Jay took over and struck out the next two batters on seven pitches.
Jay needed just two pitches to record the first two outs in the ninth, but walked the next Husker. He then sealed his 11th save and Illinois' Big Ten title with three straight swinging strikes.
2015 Fighting Illini Baseball
• Illinois won its 30th Big Ten Championship, which ranks second all-time in conference history behind Michigan (35).
• It is the first Illini title since 2011 (shared with Michigan State) and first outright title since 2005.
• Illinois is off to its best start in school history with a 44-6-1 record. The Illini's 44 wins rank third on the program's all-time list. The school record for victories is 49 in 1982.
• Illinois boasts the No. 1 winning percentage (0.873) in NCAA Division I Baseball and has the fewest losses (6).
• UI has won a program-record 19 straight Big Ten tilts and sealed first place atop the conference standings at 20-1, marking Illinois' most wins during a 24-game Big Ten season (began in 2009). It also equaled the school record for Big Ten victories in any season from 2005.
• Illinois will be the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament for the fourth time in program history (1998, 2005, 2011).
• Illinois is on a school-record 25-game winning streak, which is the longest winning streak in the country in 2015.
• The NCAA record winning streak of 34 is owned by Texas (1977) and Florida Atlantic (1999). The longest winning streak by a Big Ten team is 26 by Nebraska (1983).
• Illinois has outscored its opponents 206-87 during its 25-game winning streak. The Illini boast a .313 average and 2.72 ERA during that span. UI has overcome a deficit in 15 of the games and has 21 total comeback wins on the year.
• UI's 15-game home winning streak is the longest active streak in the nation. The Illini also boast the longest active road winning streak (10) and best road record (17-2-1) in the nation.
Up Next: No. 2 Illinois will battle Nebraska on the Big Ten Network on Friday at 6 p.m.
