Illinois won a pitchers’ duel at Rent One Park in Marion against the Southern Illinois Salukis. In ten innings, the Illini (13-4) pulled out a comeback 2-1 victory giving them six wins in a row and twelve in the last thirteen going into the Big Ten season.
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Illinois was kept scoreless for seven innings by SIU pitching in Monday’s game. Fortunately, starter John Kravetz did his best to keep them in the game. In six innings, he allowed only three hits and one run.
It was Ryan Nagle (left) who once again proved to be a valuable pinch hitter off the bench for the Illini. Hitting for Davis Hendrickson, he drove home Adam Walton on a base hit to tie the game 1-1 in the eighth inning.
It was another pinch hitter, Michael Hurwitz, who drove home the winning run in the tenth inning. Brandon Hohl (3 for 4) scored on Hurwitz’ single giving the Illini the 2-1 lead.
Bryan Roberts got the win for Illinois for the second game in a row. He struck out four Salukis and pitched 2 1/3 perfect innings. Reid Roper pitched the bottom of the tenth for his fifth save of the season.
Random Ramblings
Glad Illinois pulled this one out. They outhit SIU 10 to 3 tonight but it was tooth and nail until the end. Give some credit to both pitchers Kevin Duchene and Bryan Roberts who got out of the tough seventh inning with two runners on and nobody out.
Speaking of Roberts, he’s really hot out of the gate. After two years out of action due to injury, he’s won the first two games he’s appeared in. I’m impressed by his four-strikeout performance tonight too.
Speaking of pitching, the Illini have allowed just eight runs in 38 innings in their last four games. That includes Saturday’s game when SIU scored five, too.
Tonight’s win, gives Illinois a 13-4 record. They join first place Indiana (13-3) as the two Big Ten teams with 13 wins.
Next up
Home Sweet Home! The Illini will finally play at Illinois Field this weekend. They will play host to the Nebraska Cornhuskers in the Big Ten opener. Now it’s for real. Friday’s game time is 4:05pm.
Go Illini!