HUNTSVILLE, Texas -- Fighting Illini baseball (6-3) clinched a series win over Sam Houston (5-7) with an 8-3 victory on Saturday, thanks to a season-high four home runs and stellar pitching.
It was the hosts that scored first in the ballgame, pushing a run across in the opening frame to take an early 1-0 lead. Illinois would take the lead their next time up in the second, when Coltin Quagliano crushed his first-career Illini home run to make it 2-1.
The Orange and Blue made it a 4-1 contest in the third when Ryan Moerman drew a walk with two outs and Camden Janik followed by launching his second home run of the season to right-center. The Bearkats would grab one of those runs back in their half of the inning to make it 4-2.
The two-run lead was more than enough for Illinois starter Jack Crowder, who turned in his best start of the season to pick up his first win of the year. Crowder worked 5.2 innings, allowing two runs on six hits to go along with three strikeouts and no walks. The Romeoville, Ill., native spun 1-2-3 innings in the second and the fourth after allowing one run in each inning prior to those frames.
Cam McDonald pushed the lead back to three with an RBI-groundout in the seventh, but Sam Houston plated an unearned run in the bottom half to cut the lead back to two.
The Illini broke the game open in eighth, when Drake Westcott blasted an opposite-field solo shot, his second of the season, and Jacob Schroeder followed with a two-run homer two batters later to make it 8-3.
Alex Vera tossed the final 3.1 innings of the contest and allowed just one hit and one run, which was unearned., to pick up his second save of the season.
GAME NOTES
» Head coach Dan Hartleb picked up career win 513 and is just six wins away from passing Lee Eilbracht (518) for the most in program history.
» Illinois won its second-straight three-game series of the season and has won five-straight three-game series overall dating back to last season.
» Every Illinois starter reached base safely in the win.
» Branden Comia extended his on-base streak to 49 games after drawing a walk in the eighth inning.
» Danny Doligale drew two walks, his second-straight multi-walk game.
    » Doligale is reaching base at a .457 clip, the highest mark among Illini starters.
    » Fifth game this season with at least two walks.
» Camden Janik went 2-for-5 with a home run and two RBI, which extended his career-long hitting streak to nine games.Â
    » Janik leads the team with five two-out RBI.
» Drake Westcott went 1-for-4 with a home run, RBI and a walk.
    » Westcott extended his hitting streak to five games (6-for-22) and has two home runs, six RBI and five walks during that span.
» Jacob Schroeder went 2-for-4 with a home run and two RBI.
    » Schroeder has hit safely in four of five games this season, with two multi-hit performances.
» Jack Crowder picked up his first win of the season.
    » 5.2 IP, 6 H, 2 R/ER, 0 BB, 3 SO, 81 pitches/62 strikes.
» Alex Vera picked up his second save of the season.
    » 3.1 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 SO, 39 pitches/30 strikes.
    » Third multi-inning relief outing of the season.
    » Has not allowed an earned run this season over 7.1 innings of work (4 G).
» Illini pitchers did not issue a walk in a game for the first time this season.
    » Have struck out 11 batters and walked three through two games this series.
» Illinois hitters hit four homers in the ballgame, a season high.
» The Fighting Illini out-hit the Bearkats at an 8-7 clip.
» Illinois pitchers limited Sam Houston to just 1-for-6 (.167) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 35 Sam Houston hitters in the game, allowing 14 ground balls and 10 fly balls while striking out three.
» The Fighting Illini drew six walks from Sam Houston pitching.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
