OMAHA, Neb. -- Ben Troike hit a walk-off double Friday to score Jack Yalowitz and beat Indiana 5-4 at the Big Ten Tournament at TD Ameritrade Park. The Illini eliminated Indiana and moved to the Big Ten semifinals to face Purdue at 1 p.m. CT Saturday.
Troike sent a fly ball deep to center field with Yalowitz on second base that Indiana's Logan Kaletha dove for but could not haul in. As the ball popped out of Kaletha's glove, Yalowitz stood between second and third before easily racing home to end the ballgame.
Illinois (33-19) finished a 3-2 season series win over Indiana, a big boost for the Illini's NCAA Tournament resume. Indiana went 1-2 at the tournament with both losses coming to Illinois.
The Illini scored three of its runs on one swing of the bat from Bren Spillane in the fifth inning. The Big Ten Player of the Year worked a nine-pitch at-bat that ended in one of the longest home runs in TD Ameritrade Park history. Lefty Tim Herrin left a hanging slider over the middle and Spillane turned on it to row 24 of Section 129, deep into left center and right of the 375-foot marker. It was his 23rd home run of the season and kept his slugging percentage over .900.
Spillane's homer gave reliever Ryan Thompson a 4-3 lead, after Thompson entered in the third when starter Ty Weber had to leave with an injury. Thompson allowed only one run on three hits in a career-long 4 2/3 innings, two days after allowing one run in 2 2/3 innings against the Hoosiers. The right hander threw 55 pitches, 36 for strikes, in one of the best relief performances the Illini have had all season.
Joey Gerber (1-1) got the last out of the eighth and three straight outs in the ninth to pick up the win.
Indiana (38-17) got two hits apiece from Kaletha and Cole Barr. Matt Lloyd (4-2) allowed Troike's double to take the loss.
Doran Turchin started the offense for Illinois with a triple off the wall in right field before scoring on a Jeff Korte groundout.
Illinois will have to beat Purdue twice in order to reach Sunday's 1 p.m. CT championship game. If Illinois wins the first game Saturday, the second game will be at either 5 p.m. CT or 9 p.m. CT depending on the outcome of Ohio State vs. Minnesota at 9 a.m. CT.
Notes
• Illinois is 31-36 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament with four titles (1989, 1990, 2000, 2011).
• Illinois is 3-2 all-time in the Big Ten Tournament against Indiana.
• Illinois is 10-9 vs. Indiana since 2012.
• Illinois is 118-79-1 all-time against Indiana.
• Indiana won the pregame national anthem standoff.
• Ben Troike has reached base in all 52 games this season. His current reached base streak is 57 dating back to the final five games of last season, the longest active streak in the nation.
• Illinois has seven fewer errors than any other Big Ten team (Illinois 42, Minnesota 49).
• Illinois is second in the Big Ten in homers (61) and slugging percentage (.442) behind Indiana (63 and .448).
• Illinois is 24-0 when leading after seven innings, 23-1 when leading after four innings and 18-2 when leading after three innings.
• Illinois is 21-5 when scoring first.
• Illinois is 10-5 in one-run games.
• Illinois is 32-11 when scoring three or more runs.
• Bren Spillane is the Big Ten leader in batting average, slugging, OBP, OPS, homers, RBIs and total bases. He ranks third in runs, fourth in doubles, 13th in steals and 13th in hits.
• Bren Spillane current ranks in Illinois single-season history: 2nd slugging (.908), 2nd home runs (23), 2nd Big Ten home runs (10), 5th on-base percentage (.493), 4th total bases (158), t-3rd Big Ten total bases (67)
• Bren Spillane's 23 home runs are the second most in Illinois history behind Josh Klimek's 26 in 1996.
• Bren Spillane's 158 total bases are tied with Brian McClure's 1996 season for third most. Josh Klimek owns the record of 188 in 1996 and Tim Richardson is second with 163 in 1982.
• Bren Spillane is currently slugging .908. The last NCAA player to finish a year with a slugging percentage over .900 was in 2009 when Bryce Brentz of Middle Tennessee State slugging .930.
• Bren Spillane could break the Big Ten single-season record for slugging (.913, Darrin Fletcher, Illinois, 1987).
• Bren Spillane is one of 25 semifinalists for the Golden Spikes Award.
