Box Score ANN ARBOR, Mich. -- The Illinois baseball rallied Sunday to tie Michigan 4-4 with two outs in the ninth before falling 5-4 in 11 innings. Illinois did not finish the sweep but won the series 2-1.
Michigan (32-16, 15-5 Big Ten) ended the game on a walk-off sac fly after Illinois had an error and no outs recorded on consecutive sac bunt attempts.
Illinois (29-17, 13-8 Big Ten) trailed 4-2 in the ninth inning with two outs and nobody on and were down to the last strike when Michael Michalak started the rally with a single to short. Doran Turchin followed with a walk, a passed ball moved the runners to second and third, then they both scored on an infield single to first base by Jack Yalowitz. It looked like Turchin was going to be out at the plate until a swim move got Turchin around Michigan's catcher to tie the game.
The Illini threatened again in the 10th inning when Michael Massey hit a 390-foot single to center field that almost scored a run. Michigan center fielder Jonathan Engelmann tracked the ball the whole way, making Zac Taylor on second base hold to see if the ball would be caught before being thrown out at the plate.
Illinois left 10 runners on base, including four in scoring position in the final three innings.
Ryan Schmitt (1-2) took the loss in relief, despite not allowing an earned run. Schmitt followed scoreless outings from Ryan Thompson (1.1 IP, 2 H) and Joey Gerber (2.2 IP, 1 H).
Illinois allowed four unearned runs on three errors. Michigan's only earned run came on a Jordan Nwogu home run off of starter Ty Weber (6.0 IP, 6 H, 4 R, 1 ER).
Taylor and Massey led Illinois with two hits apiece. David Craan hit his first home run of the season in the fifth inning, an opposite field shot.
Jayce Vancena (3-3) was the winner in relief. He tossed the final two innings, scattering four hits.
Illinois finishes the regular season Thursday-Sunday against Nebraska at Illinois Field.
Notes
• Six Illini missed their graduation ceremonies this weekend:
Jackson Douglas,
Andy Fisher,
Joey Gerber,
Ryan Haff,
Sean Leland,
Mark Skonieczny
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Ben Troike has reached base in all 46 games this season. His current reached base streak is 51 dating back to the final five games of last season, the longest active streak in the Big Ten.
• Illinois won a series in Ann Arbor for the first time since 2003.
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Michael Massey ended a streak of 60 straight games without an error. Prior to today, Massey led the nation in assists without an error (137).
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Bren Spillane is currently slugging .954. The last NCAA player to finish a year with a slugging percentage over .950 was Rickie Weeks (Southern U.) .995 in 2002.
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Bren Spillane is on pace to break Illinois' single-season and career slugging percentage records.
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Bren Spillane is on pace to break the Big Ten record for slugging percentage in a season (.913, Darrin Fletcher, Illinois, 1987).
• Illinois' RPI was at No. 45 after the loss.
