SEATTLE --Â Illinois baseball (22-15, 10-8) salvaged its series at Washington (21-20, 11-7) with a 3-1 victory today at Husky Ballpark.
Regan Hall headlined a day full of solid pitching performances, improving to 5-2 on the season by allowing just one run over 5.1 innings of work, picking up four strikeouts. Payton Hutchings turned in 2.2 shutout frames and Zach Bates earned his fourth save of the season by tossing a scoreless ninth.
Jacob Schroeder (1-for-4), Drake Westcott (2-for-4) and Greg LaChance (1-for-4) all tallied RBI-singles during the Illini's three-run fourth.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The two teams traded zeroes through the first three innings, with the Huskies coming closest to scoring by loading the bases in the first but Hall was able to get out of the early jam unscathed.
In the top of the. fourth, Vytas Valincius started the frame with a single and Kyle Schupmann followed by getting hit by a pitch. Back-to-back singles from Schroeder and Westcott gave the Orange and Blue a 2-0 lead. LaChance would then made it 3-0 with a two-out infield single.
Washington would put runners on the corners with two outs in the fifth but the Illini executed their defense against a first-and-third rundown play perfectly to get out of the inning.
The hosts got on the board in the sixth and would load the bases with one out but Schupmann was able to cut down a runner at the plate for the second out and then made a nice play on the run to end the inning.
The Illinois offense was retired in order from the sixth inning to the end of the game, unable to add to its two-run lead, but Hutchings allowed just one hit over the seventh and eighth innings to keep the Illini's advantage.
Bates then worked around a one-out walk in the ninth to earn the save and give Illinois the 3-1 win, snapping a two-game losing skid.
GAME NOTES
» Drake Westcott went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
    » Was the lone Illini with multiple hits in the ballgame.
» Jack Zebig extended his on-base streak to 32 games.
» Regan Hall earned his third-straight win to improve to 5-2 on the season.
    » 5.1 IP, 7 H, 1 R/ER, 1 BB, 4 SO
» Payton Hutchings extended his scoreless innings streak to 7.2 innings, spanning six games.
    » 2.2 IP, 1 H, 0 R/ER, 1 BB, 1 SO
» Zach Bates recorded his fourth save of the season.
    » 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R/ER, 1 BB, 2 SO
» Illinois went 3-for-9 (.333) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers limited Washington to just 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 39 Washington hitters in the game, allowing eight ground balls and 11 fly balls while striking out seven.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
