COLUMBUS, Ohio - In a back-and-forth game on Saturday, No. 6 Illinois battled back twice to seal its school-record 20th straight win with a 6-5 victory over No. 23 Ohio State. The Illini scored three runs in both the fifth and sixth to support six solid innings from starter Drasen Johnson (7-2). Closer Tyler Jay shut the door with the final seven outs for his ninth save.
UI also won a program-record 14 straight Big Ten contests and remained in first place atop the standings at 15-1, marking Illinois' best Big Ten record through 16 games in school history.
The Illini extended their best start in program history (39-6-1) and maintained the No. 1 winning percentage in the NCAA (.859). The 39 wins already rank seventh in the school's record book, while head coach Dan Hartleb moved past George Huff and alone into third place on the school's all-time list with career win No. 315.
Illinois' 20-game winning streak is the longest active streak in the NCAA and second-longest this season behind Texas A&M (24). The NCAA record winning streak (34) is owned by Texas (1977) and Florida Atlantic (1999).
After falling behind 2-0, the Illini mounted a comeback with three runs in the fifth. Sophomore Pat McInerney scored the first run, as the Illini capitalized on a pair of OSU errors at the start of the inning. Shortstop Adam Walton gave the Illini a 3-2 edge with a two-run single that plated seniors David Kerian and Will Krug.
The Buckeyes responded with two runs in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI double and RBI single for a 4-3 advantage.
The Orange and Blue weren't down for long, pushing across three more runs in the sixth. Krug singled home senior Casey Fletcher to force an OSU pitching change. Sophomore Ryne Roper knocked in Kerian with an RBI single to retake the lead and Walton added an insurance by bringing home Krug on a sacrifice fly for his third RBI.
Reliever J.D. Nielsen took over in the seventh and allowed an RBI groundout that made it 6-5. Jay then shined over the remaining 2.1 innings, only giving up a single in the eighth. He ended the seventh with a fly out and wrapped things up with three fly outs in the ninth.
Up Next: No. 6 Illinois will go for the sweep of No. 23 Ohio State in the finale on Sunday at 12:05 p.m. CT.
