If we keep these 1-2 Big Ten weekends up, we’ll be watching the Big Ten tournament from home. With Illinois’ 16-1 loss to the Michigan State Spartans on Saturday, that will make it three straight weekends against conference teams with only one win.
MSU’s 16 runs were spread throughout the game and hence, all our pitchers suffered their wrath. Will Strack was hit hard… seven hits and five runs in less than three innings. That puts him at 1-3 for the year. Billy Barrett got a nickel’s worth of runs charged to him too in two innings. De la Torriente, Kimes, and Anderson allowed two each. Anderson did strike out four Spartan batters in three innings. Illini pitching was able to strike out only one other MSU batter.
Offensively, we were pretty dead. Even our one run was unearned. Christian Cummins (left) who seems to have taken the job at second base, went 3 for 3 with a double and scored that run. Thomas Shelton also got two hits. That makes him 9 for 20 for the year.
Other than Aaron Johnson’s single in the first, that was about it for the Illini offense on Saturday.
Up Next
Just one midweek game on the docket. They play the Bradley Braves who come to town on Tuesday. This is a repeat appointment for these two teams. Back in early April, Illinois sneaked away from Peoria-town with an 11-10 win.
This weekend, Northwestern comes to town.