Big Ten Baseball Weekly Honors Release
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Illinois RHP Riley Gowens was named the Big Ten Pitcher of the Week, the conference office announced Tuesday. Gowens shared the award, the first of his career, with Michigan State's Sam Benschoter.
Gowens (7.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 4 BB, 6 SO) started Sunday's combined no-hitter at Purdue. Ryan O'Hara and Cole Kirschsieper came out of the bullpen to finish the no-hitter. Illinois (13-14) completed the three-game series sweep of Purdue with a final score of 1-0.
This season is Gowens' first pitching collegiate baseball. A junior academically, Gowens has missed the last two seasons due to Tommy John surgery. This year, Gowens is 1-2 with a 4.60 ERA (31.1 IP, 16 ER) in seven starts.
Gowens becomes the 31st Illinois pitcher in program history to be named Big Ten Pitcher of the Week and the first since Andy Fisher on May 6, 2019.
Notes
• Illinois threw their 11th no-hitter in its 142-year program history and first ever on the road. It was the first since "Boo" Champagne vs. Bradley on April 24, 1985.
• Illinois has now thrown three no-hitters on April 25 (Gowens/O'Hara/Kirschsieper at Purdue on April 25, 2021, Sanford/Foss/Gregory vs. St. Joseph's (Ind.) on April 25, 1967, Charles Schiller vs. Chicago on April 25, 1942).
• The no-hitter was the second combined no-hitter in program history (Sanford/Foss/Gregory vs. St. Joseph's (Ind.) on April 25, 1967).
• It was the fourth no-hitter Illinois has recorded in a conference game (Doug Mills vs. Wisconsin on April 29, 1961, Charles Schiller vs. Chicago on April 25, 1942, Woodward "Red" Gunkel vs. Ohio State 5/5/1916).
• Illinois completed their first sweep of the season at Purdue and first since May 10-12, 2019 vs. Purdue. It was their first Big Ten series sweep on the road since March 23-25, 2018 at Northwestern.
