HATTIESBURG, Miss. --Â Fighting Illini baseball (4-3), backed by a strong 5.2 innings from Jack Wenninger and a seven-run sixth inning, is returning to Champaign with a series win after defeating No. 18 Southern Miss (5-2) 9-4 on Sunday.
The Illini are the first non-conference team to win a three-game series at Pete Taylor Park since Oakland on March 6-8, 2015.
Illinois opened the scoring in the first inning for the second-straight game, with a two-out rally. Cam McDonald got things started with a base hit, Drake Westcott and Camden Janik then followed with back-to-back walks. Ryan Moerman then brought home McDonald and Westcott with a single of his own to make it 2-0.
Those were more than enough runs for starter Jack Wenninger, keeping the Golden Eagles off the board over his first 5.0 innings of work, racking up two strikeouts along the way. Wenninger worked around a lead-off walk in the third and a lead-off double in the fourth to keep the Illini in front.
The Illinois offense then exploded for seven runs on eight hits in the sixth to take a commanding 9-0 lead. Cal Hejza led off with a double and then scored on Danny Doligale's triple. Branden Comia followed with a double of his own and McDonald also lined a triple down the right-field line to make it 5-0. Westcott singled, which was followed up with a Janik double and a Moerman single. Coltin Quagliano roped a ground-rule double and Brody Harding capped the scoring with a sacrifice fly, making it 9-0.
McDonald's triple was the 200th hit of his Illini career, taking the Ladd, Ill., native, 174 career games to reach that mark.
Wenninger recorded two more punchouts in the sixth, but was chased out of the game after surrendering a three-run home run. The Cary, Ill., native finished with a final line of 5.2 IP, five hits, three runs/earned runs, three walks and four strikeouts.
Southern Miss would push one more run across the plate in the seventh, but Julius Sanchez and John Lundgren combined to toss 2.0 scoreless innings, allowing just two hits and striking out two, to give Illinois the 9-4 win.
GAME NOTES
» Head coach Dan Hartleb picked up career win 511 and is just eight wins away from passing Lee Eilbracht (518) for the most in program history.
» Ryan Moerman went 3-for-5 with a run and three RBI.
    » Collected a total of seven RBI in the series, a joint team-high mark.
    » Driven in runs in five of seven games this season, including four mutli-RBI games.
    » Recorded his third multi-hit game of the season.
» Cam McDonald went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a triple, one RBI and was hit by a pitch.
    » His triple was the 200th hit of his career.
    » Finished the series going 7-for-16 at the plate with two-multi hit games.
» Cal Hejza went 2-for-4 with a run and a double in today's series finale.
    » Went 6-for-12 (.500) at the dish in the series, collecting two hits in each game.
    » Slugged 1.083 and reached base at a .563 clip, good for a 1.646. All those figures are team-highs.
    » Collected a total of seven RBI over the weekend, a joint team-high mark.
» Branden Comia went 1-for-5 with a run, double, RBI and a walk.
    » He extended his on-base streak to 47 games.
» Four Fighting Illini had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» The Fighting Illini out-hit the Golden Eagles at a 13-8 clip.
» Illinois went 7-for-14 (.500) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers limited Southern Miss to just 1-for-12 (.083) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 45 Southern Miss hitters in the game, allowing five ground balls and 14 fly balls while striking out eight.
» The Fighting Illini drew four walks from Southern Miss pitching.
» Illinois improves to 2-3 against ranked opponents this season.
» The Illini are the first non-conference team to win a three-game series at Pete Taylor Park since Oakland on March 6-8, 2015.
» The 35 runs scored by Illinois at Pete Taylor Park are the most by an opponent in a series since Cal State Fullerton scored 36 from March 6-8, 2009.
    » Both Southern Miss and Cal State Fullerton were College World Series participants that season.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
