Wow! That was a tight game. Illinois (8-4) squeaked one by the Baylor Bears tonight by the score of 4-3 on a 2-run ninth inning comeback rally. GameTracker has never been so enthralling (it tickles me when the home team on GameTracker comes back on the field just after losing the game).
| Game #12 / March 8, 2013 | ||||
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Illinois starter Kevin Johnson pitched a strong game allowing just two Baylor runs in six plus innings. In fact, he retired 12 of the first 14 batters and didn’t allow a run until the fifth. However, those two runs in the fifth tied the game though so KJ didn’t get the win. An unearned run against reliever Ronnie Muck in the eighth inning gave the Bears a 3-2 lead going into the ninth.
Will Krug and Michael Hurwitz started out the ninth inning getting free passes from the Baylor bullpen. Krug scored on a Justin Parr rbi groundout. Two batters later, firstbaseman David Kerian drove home Hurwitz on a rbi basehit to third for the eventual winning run.
In the ninth, Reid Roper came on for the save. Despite a little excitement with two Baylor runners getting on base via an Illini error and a walk, Roper got the job done for his second save of the year.
Random Ramblings
It’s nice to open up with a win against a tough opponent like Baylor especially against their best pitcher. It puts a win under Illinois’ belt and kind of takes the pressure off. Now they can go out there tomorrow and have some fun.
What was I saying yesterday about Will Krug and Michael Hurwitz being key players on 
this year’s team? Tonight, the two of them scored all four of Illinois’ runs. The first inning featured both them as Krug led off with a double and Hurwitz (right) followed that up with his first homerun of the season in the first inning to get things going.
Just sayin’.
Next up: Tomorrow, Illinois take on Baylor again for a doubleheader. Nick Blackburn takes the mound in the afternoon game at 2:05pm. In the evening game at 6:35pm, we’ll see hurler John Kravetz.
Great comeback, Illinois!