CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — The Fighting Illini baseball team finished off the series sweep of Purdue on Sunday afternoon at Illinois Field by taking down the Boilermakers, 11-8. The offense was firing again on Sunday led by Danny Doligale and Jacob Campbell who each notched three hits and combined for four RBI as the Illini racked up 12 hits as a team. Justin Janas and Brody Harding also both recorded multi-hit games. The Illini are now 5-1 in conference play for the first time since the 2015 season.
Illinois (13-12, 5-1) jumped ahead first for the third time this weekend, scoring one run in the bottom of the second inning as Cal Hejza walked with the bases loaded to score Ryan Hampe and take a 1-0 lead. Purdue tallied five runs in the following four innings and Illinois was trailing Purdue (18-5, 1-3) by two runs heading into the bottom of the sixth inning before putting up seven runs on five hits to take a 10-5 lead.
The Illini added another run in the seventh inning as Danny Doligale crushed his second homer of the season, a solo shot to right-center field to give Illinois an 11-5 lead. Purdue came back with three runs in the top of the ninth, but the Illini held on for an 11-8 win to complete the sweep of the Boilermakers.
Jack Wenninger (1-2) earns the win for the Illini after coming out of the bullpen in relief of Jack Crowder to throw 3.2 scoreless innings while allowing just three hits. Purdue's Troy Wansing moves to 2-1 after taking his first loss on the mound this season.
Illinois travels to Illinois State on Tuesday night to take on the Redbirds at 5 p.m. CT before heading to Iowa City for a three-game series against the Hawkeyes next weekend.
NOTES
• Cam McDonald has hit safely in 23 consecutive games and has reached base in every game this season (25 game on-base streak).
• Jack Wenninger earned his first win of the season on the mound.
• Cal Hejza faced three different pitchers in two at bats in the sixth inning.
• Illinois has now won the last six games against Purdue dating back to 2021.
• Illinois is 5-1 to start Big Ten play for the first time since 2015.
• Illinois has won its first two Big Ten series of the season.
• Illinois has recorded 10+ hits in 16 of 25 games this season.
• Illinois has scored six or more runs in all 13 wins this season.
• Illinois scored 30 runs this weekend.
• Attendance was 1,529.
