Well, it was big loss on Sunday as Illinois dropped their third loss against Penn State 3-2 despite a fine effort by starting pitcher Drasen Johnson. Johnson (left) spread out five hits in 5 1/3 innings and only gave up one run.
After scoring the first run of the game in the top of the sixth, Illinois couldn’t get the offense going after that. Meanwhile, Penn State came back for three runs in the sixth and seventh innings. The Orange and Blue rallied for a run in the ninth but it wasn’t enough. Matt Milroy got the loss and is 2-6 for the season.
It was tough series all around for a lot of different reasons. Tough because every win is so important this time of year. Tough because Penn State swept Illinois despite outscoring them by only four runs in three games. Every game was so close and could have gone Illinois’ way had they scored a run or two more. And tough because before this weekend, our opponent was only one game ahead of us in the standings. Now, Penn State is in second place with a 13-8 record (no one is broaching Purdue’s 16-5 territory).
Here are the current Big Ten standings.
On the bright side
There still some remotely good news regarding Big Ten Tournament qualification. One, eighth place Illinois (9-12) is playing Minnesota (10-11) this weekend who resides right above us in the standings. And two, Ohio State (11-10) who is two spots above us, is playing tough Indiana who is tied with Penn State for second place. Go Hoosiers, right??
Yes, if I have my math right, we could sweep the Golden Gophers this weekend, we still could garner a berth in the Tournament depending on the OSU-Indiana series outcome. Also, if Ohio State and Illinois end up tied for sixth place and the last qualifying spot for the tourney, Big Ten rules come into play. Head-to-head records make the difference which is good for the Illini because that Illinois’ 2-1 series win against the Buckeyes earlier this season would give them some breathing room (link to Big Ten tie-breaking procedures).
Either way, there’s nothing the Fighting Illini can do but play the best baseball they can. What YOU can do is come out and support them this weekend. All three games are at home at Illinois Field.