BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Illinois baseball (9-11) opened up Big Ten play with a dominant 9-1 victory over Indiana (11-11) tonight at Bart Kaufman Field.
Jack Crowder earned his first win of the season by allowing just one run on two hits while punching out six over 5.0 innings of work. Regan Hall earned the first save of his career by tossing 4.0 shutout frames, whiffing five batters.
Vytas Valincius and Drake Westcott both went 2-for-5 on the night, combining for two doubles and five RBI. Eight of the nine Illini starters recorded a hit while all nine reached base safely in the contest.
HOW IT HAPPENED
It was a pitcher's duel early on, as both teams combined for just three hits through the first five innings. Indiana would eventually scrape a run across on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the fifth, but Crowder would strand runners on first and second to keep it a one-run game.
The Illinois offense erupted for eight runs in the sixth, sending 14 batters to the plate, collecting six hits and four walks in the frame. Camden Janik began the inning with a single and Westcott followed with a double, setting the table for Valincius' two-run double, giving Illinois a 2-1 lead. Cal Hejza picked up an RBI on a groundout and Connor Milton brought home another run on a groundout. Janik, in his second plate appearance of the inning, was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded and Westcott followed with a two-run single. Valincius recorded his third RBI of the inning with a single, capping the scoring.
Illinois would push another run across in the seventh, when Brody Harding singled home Cameron Chee-Aloy with two outs.
Bolstered by the seven-run lead, Crowder turned the ball over to Hall in the sixth, who shut down the Hoosier offense. The freshman yielded just two hits over the final four innings to give the Illini the 9-1 win.
GAME NOTES
» Vytas Valincius went 2-for-5 with a run, double and three RBI.
» Extended his hitting streak to a season-high six games...has gone 8-for-21 (.381) during that span.
» Has hit safely in 11 of his last 12 overall.
» Matches season-high three RBI.
» Drake Westcott went 2-for-5 with a run, double and two RBI.
» Has back-to-back two-hit games.
» Cameron Chee-Aloy went 1-for-2 with two runs scored and three walks.
» Has reached base in 17 of 18 games this season.
» Sets a new career-high mark in walks.
» Jack Crowder earned his first win of the season.
» 5.0 IP, 2 H, 1 R/ER, 2 BB, 6 SO
» Has allowed two earned runs in his last 12.0 innings of work to go along with 11 strikeouts.
» Third start this season with exactly one earned run allowed.
» Regan Hall earned the first save of his career.
» 4.0 IP, 2 H, 0 R/ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
» Has allowed just three earned runs in his last 7.1 innings of work (5 G).
» The Fighting Illini out-hit the Hoosiers at a 9-4 clip.
» Illinois went 6-for-11 (.545) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers limited Indiana to just 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 38 Indiana hitters in the game, allowing six ground balls and 10 fly balls while striking out 11.
» The Fighting Illini drew seven walks from Indiana pitching.
» Illinois snapped a three-game losing skid to Indiana.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
