Illinois got their revenge for yesterday’s sweep and evened the weekend series up by blasting the Penn State Nittany Lions 17-6. Casey McMurray continued to put up the big numbers as he went 4 for 4 with 3 runs. Kyle Hudson (right) was 3 for 4 with 3 runs and 2 rbis.
For the weekend, McMurray was 11 for 15 with five rbis and seven runs.
Today, the big inning no doubt was the Illini 4th. They batted around in the order and put together six hits plus a Lion error to score eight runs.
As for starter Billy Barrett, he was unhittable the first four innings. Literally. With two outs in the fifth, Barrett (left) had yet to give up a hit. Once Rick Marlin hit a double to center, the floodgates opened. Barrett walked two batters then a single by Wes Borden scored two.
The next inning, it was beginning to feel like yesterday all over again. Fortunately, the Illini had a 12-2 cushion. Penn State “only” scored 4 runs with the help of Mike Stankiewicz who somehow got out of it with minimal damage all things considered. Fortunately, those would be the last runs Penn State would score this weekend.
Final Score: 17-6
My daughter and I sat in front of Mike Sterk’s mom today. I just knew she was a Illini mom from the way she cheered. When she passed on the answer to the trivia question announced over PA to my daughter, I introduced myself. Answer to today’s question: Ben Reeser is the only Illini player with a twin. The More You Know.