WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Illinois baseball (33-17, 18-6) closed out its regular season with an 18-10 victory over Purdue (33-22, 13-11), today at Alexander Field.
The Illini's win completed the series sweep of Purdue and put an exclamation point on the program's outright Big Ten championship, clinched by Nebraska's loss to Michigan State earlier in the day.
Drake Westcott went 3-for-7 with two runs, two home runs and six RBI. Ryan Moerman went yard for the third-consecutive game, going 2-for-5 with three runs, a home run and two RBI. Brody Harding went 4-for-6 with two runs, three doubles and three RBI. Vytas Valincius had a 3-for-4 day with two runs, two doubles, two walks and two RBI.
Regan Hall earned the win out of the bullpen for Illinois. The southpaw went 3.1 innings, giving up two runs on three hits, while striking out one. Korey Bunselmeyer earned his first save of the season by working 3.0 shutout innings to end the game, yielding one hit.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Illini jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first thanks to two-run doubles from Valincius and Harding. The Boilermakers grabbed two of those runs back their first time up, but Camden Janik earned an RBI with a sacrifice fly in the second to make it 5-2.
Purdue would take a narrow one-run lead after plating four in the third to make it 6-5, but Westcott's RBI-single in the fourth evened the contest at 6-6.
The hosts went back in front with two runs in the fifth, but a big sixth inning by the Illini would put them in the lead for good. Westcott launched the first pitch of the inning over the wall in right and Valincius would follow with a walk. Moerman crushed a two-run shot, his Big Ten-leading 18th of the season, to make it 9-8. A single from Jacob Schroeder and a double from Harding kept the line moving, with Coltin Quagliano picking up his 50th RBI of the season on a sacrifice fly. Connor Milton drew a walk and Janik was hit by a pitch two batters later. Westcott slugged a towering blast to right for a grand slam, his second home run of the inning, to cap the scoring in the frame and put Illinois ahead 14-8.
The Illini continued to pour it on with three more in the seventh, Quagliano collecting his second RBI of the contest on an infield single and Cal Hejza driving in a pair with a long single to left center.
Purdue pushed two runs across in their half of the seventh, but Harding got one of those runs back with an RBI-double in the eighth.
Bunselmeyer closed out the ninth with a 1-2-3 frame to give Illinois the 18-10 victory, putting a stamp on its outright Big Ten championship.Â
UP NEXT
The Fighting Illini head to Omaha, Neb., where they will be the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Baseball Tournament Presented by IFS.ai. They will take on No. 8 seed Penn State on Tuesday. First pitch from Charles Schwab Field Omaha is scheduled for 6 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
» Brody Harding went 4-for-6 with two runs, three doubles and three RBI.
    » Season-high four hits...second such game of his career.
    » Career-high three doubles.
» Drake Westcott went 3-for-7 with two runs, two home runs and six RBI.
    » Fourth multi-home run game of the season...seventh such game of his career.
    » Season-high six RBI.
    » First grand slam of the season.
    » Ranks T-3rd in the Big Ten with 16 home runs.
» Vytas Valincius went 3-for-4 with two runs, two doubles, two RBI and two walks.
    » Has driven in runs in 10 of his last 14 games...has 26 RBI during that span.
    » Third three-hit game of the season.
» Ryan Moerman went 2-for-5 with three runs, two home runs and two RBI.
    » Homered for the third-straight game...matches season-long streak.
    » Hit his Big-Ten leading 18th home run of the season.
    » Leads the team with 52 RBI...ranks ninth in the Big Ten.
» Cal Hejza extended his on-base streak to 35 games.
» Connor Milton extended his on-base streak to 16 games.
» Korey Bunselmeyer earned his first save of the season.
    » 3.0 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 1 BB, 0 SO
    » Career-high in innings pitched in his Illini career.
» The Fighting Illini had three players put together games with multiple extra-base hits.
» Every Illinois starter reached base safely in the win.
» Seven Fighting Illini had multiple hits in the ballgame.
» The Fighting Illini out-hit the Boilermakers at a 19-11 clip.
» Illinois went 8-for-22 (.364) with runners in scoring position.
» The Fighting Illini got two hits in four at-bats with the bases loaded.
» Illinois pitchers faced 41 Purdue hitters in the game, allowing 13 ground balls and seven fly balls while striking out two.
» The Fighting Illini drew seven walks from Purdue pitching.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
