The linescore pretty much says it all
After spotting Michigan State four runs on an Eric Roof grand slam in the 3rd inning, Illinois came back like they were possessed scoring sixteen unanswered runs. MSU managed to put one more across for the final tally of 16-5.
Take away the grand slam and you could say starter Phil Haig (above, warming up on the sidelines) had a pretty excellent game. He only allowed four hits in seven innings and the just the four runs driven in by Roof.
But the offense! The Illini put together a five run rally in the fourth inning and liked it so much that they scored seven in the sixth. Illinois’ sixteen runs today, by the way, were all scored without a homerun. Now doubles, that’s another story. Pete Cappetta (above) tied the Big Ten Tournament record for doubles in a game with three. For the game, Cappetta was 4 for 5 with 3 doubles, 4 runs and three rbis.
Willie Argo trotting across home plate
Josh Parr was a big contributor in today’s game too. Parr also went 4 for 5 and collected four rbis.
A lot of damage was done against MSU’s Nolan Moody who pitched a no-hitter earlier in the season. But the Spartans went through four pitchers in all today which doesn’t bode well for a team in a tournament format.
What does this all mean in the context of the tournament format? For Michigan State, it means they enter the loser’s bracket and tomorrow will play Purdue (who later today lost against Indiana). Whoever loses that game will be going home.
For Illinois, well, it’s always nice to win the first game and avoid the loser’s bracket (see above paragraph). They will sit and watch baseball all day or do whatever gets them psyched for the evening when they take on Ohio State and Big Ten Co-Pitcher of the Year Alex Wimmers. The good news is that Illinois has beaten Alex Wimmers earlier this year so no one should think they can’t do it again.
Here are photos from the first game at the Big Ten Baseball Tournament.
Way to go, Illini!!
Nice win!!! I-L-L I-N-I!!!