COLUMBUS, Ohio --Â Illinois baseball (28-22, 13-15) opened its series at Ohio State (12-36, 4-24) with 4-3 victory, tonight at Bill Davis Stadium.
Tyler Schmitt improved to 5-2 on the season by tossing his fourth quality start of the campaign. The junior went 7.0 innings and allowed two runs on six hits to go along with five strikeouts. Zach Bates earned his eighth save of the year by stranding one of two inherited runners in the ninth.
Jack Zebig (1-for-3) and Nick Groves (2-for-5) tallied an RBI in the ballgame and Kyle Schupmann's little league home run in the ninth would prove to be the game winner.
HOW IT HAPPENED
After the Illini left the bases loaded in their first trip to the plate, the Buckeyes took the lead with a solo home run to start the home half of the frame.
Zebig tied it up in the third with a sacrifice fly but the hosts got the run right back to retake the lead at 2-1.
Schmitt kept Ohio State off the board through his next four innings of work, turning in 1-2-3 frames in the fourth and the sixth, and faced the minimum in the seventh to finish his night.
Illinois tied it up at 2-2 in the sixth when Cameron Chee-Aloy scored on an error that would have ended the inning.
The Orange and Blue took their first lead of the ballgame in the eighth when Groves singled home Grant Ross, who led off the inning by being hit by a pitch.
With two outs in the ninth, two Buckeye outfielders collided on fly ball hit by Schupmann to left center, and the Geneva, Ill., native, raced around the bases to give the Illini an important insurance run.
Mitch Dye started the ninth after turning in a scoreless eighth but was relieved by Bates after Ohio State started the inning with back-to-back singles. The Buckeyes scored a run on a sacrifice bunt to cut the lead to one but Bates retired the next two batters to convert the save and give Illinois the series-opening win.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Illini will be back in action tomorrow for the middle game of this three-game set. First pitch from Bill Davis Stadium is set for 2 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
» Nick Groves went 2-for-5 with a run, double and an RBI.
    » Second two-hit performance in his last three games.
        » Lone Illini batter with multiple hits in the game.
» Tyler Schmitt recorded his fourth quality start of the season.
    » 7.0 IP, 6 H, 2 R/ER, 2 BB, 5 SO
    » Third time this season working at least 7.0 innings.
» Zach Bates earned his eighth save of the season.
    » 1.0 IP, 0 H, 0 R/ER, 0 BB, 1 SO
    » His eight saves are fourth-most among Big Ten arms.
» Illinois pitchers limited Ohio State to just 1-for-9 (.111) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 39 Ohio State hitters in the game, allowing 11 ground balls and seven fly balls while striking out eight.
» The Fighting Illini drew six walks from Ohio State pitching.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
