CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Bren Spillane homered twice and drove in a career-high eight runs Wednesday to lead the No. 24-ranked Illinois baseball team to a 12-7 win over CSUN at Illinois Field. The Illini have won 11 of their last 13 games.
Illinois (12-5) trailed 5-1 in the third inning before scoring 11 of the game's final 13 runs. The Illini answered CSUN's four-spot in the third with a four-spot of their own, sparked by a two-run double from Spillane. Spillane then hit a three-run homer in the fourth to give Illinois the lead for good and homered again in the sixth, a two-run shot.
Spillane, the reigning Big Ten Player of the Week, has gone 11-for-17 with five homers, three doubles and 14 RBIs in the last four games. He is hitting .439 for the season (29-66) with eight homers, 29 RBIs and a .985 slugging percentage.
Illinois scored in six of its eight trips to the plate and at least once off of all six CSUN pitchers that threw. Zac Taylor had three hits, Jack Yalowitz reached five times (two hits, two HBP, one walk) and Doran Turchin reached four times (one hit, three walks).
Quinten Sefcik picked up his first win of the season by allowing one run on five hits over two innings in relief. Zack Jones (2.0 IP, 0 H) and Sean Leland (1.0 IP, 1 H) both had scoreless outings out of the bullpen.
Illinois is back in action Friday at Northwestern to start Big Ten play. The Illini and Wildcats are scheduled for three games Friday-Sunday.
Notes
• Zac Taylor extended his career-long reached base streak to 27 games
• Ben Troike extended his career-long reached base streak to 22 games
• Michael Massey extended his career-long reached base streak to 22 games
• Illinois has slashed .306/.397/.512 as a team during the last 13 games (11-2 record)
• Illinois has outscored opponents 108-56 during the last 13 games (8.3-4.3 per game)
• Illinois has slashed .285/.376/.476 as a team this season
• Illinois has scored 7.35 runs per game this season
• Illinois is 11-1 when scoring five or more runs
• Illinois is 10-0 when leading after four innings
• Illinois is 10-2 when scoring first
