Van Scoy's Big Day Clinches Series at Michigan

ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- Grant Van Scoy hit his first homer and drove in a career-high five runs to lead the Illinois baseball team to a 10-4 win Saturday at Michigan. Illinois clinched the series and goes for the three-game sweep Sunday at 11 a.m. CT on Big Ten Network.

Illinois (29-16, 13-7 Big Ten) clinched a spot in the Big Ten Tournament with the win.

The Illini opened a 10-0 lead by the sixth inning, scoring in double digits for the second straight game. Illinois handed Michigan (31-16, 14-5 Big Ten) its second straight home loss and just its third home loss this season (17-3).

Van Scoy's home run, a line drive shot over the left field wall, started the scoring in the second inning. He added a two-run single in the fourth and an RBI single in the sixth, when Illinois plated six runs.

While Van Scoy was stealing the show, Illinois starter Andy Fisher (5-2) was getting outs at a quick pace. Fisher was perfect through four innings and took a no-hitter into the sixth before allowing two runs on two hits in seven innings of work. He was extremely efficient, throwing only 89 pitches (53 strikes) to get 21 outs.

Eight of nine Illini in the starting lineup had at least one hit and eight of nine scored at least one run, including Van Scoy and Doran Turchin scoring twice. Zac Taylor added a three-run homer and Michael Massey had a two-RBI double.

Illinois has outscored Michigan 20-7 in the first two games of the series. Ty Weber (4-3, 3.58) gets the ball Sunday against Michigan's Karl Kauffmann (6-2, 2.80) as Illinois looks for its first three-game series sweep at Michigan in program history.

Notes

• Six Illini are missing their graduation ceremonies this weekend: Jackson Douglas, Andy Fisher, Joey Gerber, Ryan Haff, Sean Leland, Mark Skonieczny
• Illinois improved to 1-2 on Bark in the Park promotion days (vs. Grand Canyon, at Indiana, at Michigan).
• Illinois will play in the Big Ten Tournament for the first time since 2015.
• Illinois won a series in Ann Arbor for the first time since 2003.
• Illinois is 21-1 when leading after four innings and 18-1 when leading after three.
• Ben Troike has reached base in all 45 games this season. His current reached base streak is 50 dating back to the final five games of last season, the longest active streak in the Big Ten.
• Grant Van Scoy tied his career highs with three hits and two runs scored.
• Bren Spillane is currently slugging .973. The last NCAA player to finish a year with a slugging percentage over .950 was Rickie Weeks (Southern U.) .995 in 2002.
• Bren Spillane's 144 total bases ranks eighth in Illinois history. The record of 188 was set by Josh Klimek in 1996.
• Bren Spillane is on pace to break Illinois' single-season and career slugging percentage records.
• Bren Spillane is on pace to break the Big Ten record for slugging percentage in a season (.913, Darrin Fletcher, Illinois, 1987).
• Michael Massey has more assists without an error than any player in the nation (137).
• Illinois catcher Jeff Korte missed the game with an injury.