After dropping their third game in a row Tuesday night, the Illinois baseball team broke out of its mini slump yesterday afternoon with a 16-5 win over Western Michigan.

Junior third baseman Mike Rohde and senior first baseman Dave Schultz led the way for the Illini. Rohde finished the day 3-4 with a triple, two runs scored and three RBI’s, while Schultz had two hits and four RBI’s.

“I was pleased with our situational hitting today,” head coach Dan Hartleb said. “I told our players that we are good enough to take games over and take the pressure off of our pitchers and defense and we really took the game over offensively. I was pleased with the strides we made between the two games.”

The Illini got on the board first in the first inning on an RBI ground out to second base by Schultz, but the lead wouldn’t last long. Western Michigan tied the game in the top of the third with a two-out RBI by Broncos sophomore catcher Nathan Marquardt.

The Illini would respond in a big way in the bottom half of the inning. Illinois sent 13 batters to the plate and scored eight runs on six hits. Both junior left fielder Ryan Snowden and Rohde reached base twice in the inning and both scored a run and had an RBI in the inning.

Every Illini starter except Schultz scored a run in the inning, but Schultz made his presence felt in the inning with a two-run double early in the inning.

“Our offense took a 180 degree turn from yesterday,” Rohde said. “Yesterday we had a lot of guys try to do more than they were capable of. Our approach was a lot better today. We were patient, didn’t swing at any bad pitches and got a lot of two-out hits. For our team to be successful that’s what we need to do.”

Illinois sent a total of seven pitchers to the mound on the afternoon. Freshman pitcher Aaron Martin threw three innings in his first start of his career and limited the Broncos to one run on two hits while striking out two.

“I was pleased with the way Aaron performed,” Hartleb said. “Looking back at his last outing he really struggled, but he took a step forward today. He got us off to a good start and got the team off on the right foot.”

Every Illini starter either had a hit, scored a run or drove in a run in the Illini’s win. The win ended the Illini’s three-game losing streak to the Broncos, and improved the teams record to 14-9 overall.

Illinois will head to Ohio State for its first Big Ten road trip of the season this weekend. The Illini and No. 24 Buckeyes will start their four game set on Friday night at Bill Davis Stadium in Columbus.

“A lot of guys found their swings and found their rhythm. We are going to need that going into Ohio State. They gave four good starting pitchers and we are going to need that rhythm and patience in our approach heading into Friday.”