CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- Illinois baseball (18-13) opened its weekend series vs. Northern Illinois (11-22) with a 15-5 victory tonight at Illinois Field.
Coltin Quagliano went 2-for-4 with two runs scored, a double, home run and a career-high five RBI to lead the Illini. Jacob Schroeder went a perfect 3-for-3 at the plate with three runs scored and three RBI and Ryan Moerman also had a three-hit night, falling just a triple shy of the cycle. All nine Illinois starters recorded a hit in the contest and seven had multi-hit efforts.
Jack Crowder tossed his third quality start of the season to pick up his second win of the campaign. The right-hander went 6.0 innings, giving up four runs, three earned, on four hits, allowing one walk and striking out three. Evan Clark pitched 1.0 shutout frames while allowing one hit and whiffing two.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Northern Illinois used two solo homers in the first to take a 2-0 lead, but the Illinois offense erupted for seven runs in the second and would never relinquish the lead. Quagliano tied the game on a two-run double and a Cameron Chee-Aloy infield-single gave the Illini a 3-2 lead. Camden Janik added a run with a sacrifice fly and Drake Westcott, Moerman and Schroeder all had run scoring singles in the frame.
The Huskies chipped away for a run in the third to make it 7-3, but the Illini put another crooked number up on the scoreboard in the fourth. Moerman crushed a towering solo-shot to right and Quagliano would later blast a three-run homer to right center, making it 11-3.
Schroeder added two more with a two-run round-tripper in the fifth before Northern Illinois pushed one across in the sixth to make it 13-4.
Westcott and Vytas Valincius pushed the Illinois lead back to double-digits with run-scoring hits in the sixth before the Huskies scratched one more run across in the seventh.
Reed Gannon would strike out the side in the ninth to end the game as the Illini cruised to the 15-5 win, their 11th win in last 13 games.
UP NEXT
Illinois continues its series with Northern Illinois tomorrow, with first pitch from Illinois Field set for 3 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
» Jacob Schroeder went 3-for-3 with three runs scored, a home run and three RBI.
» Has hit safely in 12 of his last 13 games...has six multi-hit efforts during that span including three, three-hit games.
» Has raised his batting average from .174 to .357 during that span.
» Is slugging .714, the second-highest mark among Big Ten hitters.
» Raised his OPS to 1.185, which leads the team and ranks third-highest in the Big Ten.
» Ryan Moerman went 3-for-5 with two runs scored, a double, home run and two RBI.
» Second three-hit game of the season.
» Hit his ninth home run of the season, which ties him for the team lead and the Big Ten lead.
» Brody Harding went 3-for-4 with two runs, a double and a walk.
» Third three-hit game of the season.
» Coltin Quagliano went 2-for-4 with two runs, a double, home run and five RBI.
» Extended his hitting streak to 10 games...has gone 19-for-38 (.500) during that span with five doubles, three home runs and 16 RBI.
» Has raised his season average from .236 to .314.
» Leads the team with 34 RBI.
» Cameron Chee-Aloy went 2-for-5 with a run, double and a walk.
» Extended his career-long hitting streak 13 games...has gone 22-for-59 (.373) during that span...longest streak by an Illini this season.
» Has reached base safely in 17-straight games and in 28 of 29 overall.
» Drake Westcott went 2-for-5 with two runs, a double and two RBI.
» Extended his on-base streak to 24 games, the longest active streak on the team.
» Jack Crowder tossed his third quality start of the season to improve to 2-1.
» 6.0 IP, 4 H, 4 R, 3 ER, 1 BB, 3 SO, 3 HR
» Evan Clark worked a scoreless eighth inning, picking up two strikeouts.
» Has allowed no earned runs in his last 2.1 innings of work (3 G).
» Every Illinois starter reached base safely in the win.
» Seven Fighting Illini had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» The Fighting Illini out-hit the Huskies at a 19-8 clip.
» Illinois went 9-for-15 (.600) with runners in scoring position.
» The Fighting Illini got three hits in four at-bats with the bases loaded.
» Illinois pitchers limited Northern Illinois to just 0-for-7 with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 38 Northern Illinois hitters in the game, allowing nine ground balls and seven fly balls while striking out 10.
» The Fighting Illini drew six walks from Northern Illinois pitching.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
