With a Willie Argo triple and a Josh Parr rbi single, the Illini once again won in the ninth inning, this time against Penn State 7-6 in the Big Ten opener on Friday night. This extends the Illini’s winning streak to five games and they are now breaching the .500 mark at 9-10.
Penn State got off to a quick 6-0 lead off Kevin Johnson. All six Nits runs came in the first inning and Johnson settled down after that. He only allowed one more hit in the next 5 2/3 innings.
Down six runs, the Illini nickeled and dimed the Lions getting one run in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth. When they scored two in the seventh, that tied the the game 6-6. 
It was the fateful ninth when Willie Argo (left) hit his triple and scored on Parr’s basehit.
Will Strack got the win on 1 1/3 scoreless innings. In that time, he struck out three batters. Wes Braun came in and got his his third save of the year.
Every starter got a hit in Friday’s game. Casey McMurray had three hits including a triple. Argo, Parr, and Adam Davis all had two hits apiece.
Random Ramblings
This is the second Friday in a row where the Illini have won in the ninth inning. This is turning out to be an exciting season so far.
Interesting move by the coaches to make Justin Parr the DH in Friday’s game. I think it was a move to keep hot hitting Thomas Lindauer in the lineup and still get Justin some playing time to get his timing back. Lindauer has been hitting .348 since he was put in lineup during the Southern IL spring trip. He’s leading the team albeit with limited time.
Dang, if Kevin Johnson can’t get a win (okay, he does have one). Granted, his first inning on Friday was atrocious (he gave up a leadoff homer and put the first seven runners on) but after that he retired the next eight batters. After that first inning while Illini hitters were slowly bringing their score up, he just allowed one hit and kept Penn State at bay.
Next up
Today’s Penn State game is at 1:05pm.
Go Illini!!