The Illinois baseball team recorded a season-high 26 hits against the Northwestern Wildcats on Friday night. Each Illini starter had at least two hits and six Illini had at least three hits, and yet the Illini fell just one run short when it was all said and done, as they lost to the Wildcats 19-18.

Friday night was the second annual “Party in the Park” at Illinois Field, in which all fans were admitted into the ballpark free of charge and got to witness a fireworks display during the seventh inning stretch. Little did the season-high 1,466 fans realize the fireworks would start long before the seventh inning stretch.

The two teams combined for a total of 46 hits – 17 which went for extra bases – eight home runs and 37 runs. The 37 runs is the second highest scoring Big Ten game Illinois has ever been a part of. Illinois and Indiana combined for 39 runs in the Illini’s 35-4 win April 20, 1901.

“This was definitely a different kind of game,” sophomore catcher Lars Davis said. “We had to battle again and it was just a back and forth game all the way. It was a tough game to stay in, and we just happened to be on the wrong end.”

Northwestern struck first in just the second at bat of the game when the Wildcat’s senior first baseman hit his first home run of the game to take an early 1-0 lead. Illinois came right back in its half of the inning, scoring seven runs and bouncing Northwestern starter Ryan Myers from the ball game after only 2/3 of an inning pitched.

Illinois added to its lead in the second inning with three more runs, including a solo home run by senior first baseman Dave Schultz to give the Illini a 10-1 advantage.

Northwestern would battle back over the course of the next two innings, erasing Illinois’ nine-run lead with a three-run third inning and seven-run fourth inning that included Northwestern sophomore right fielder Antonio Mule’s first home run of the game. The Wildcats led 11-10.

“We always tell our pitchers to keep the ball down, especially on a night like tonight,” Davis said. “Some of the balls were mistakes and these hitters are good enough in this league that when you make a mistake they are going to hit the ball hard.”

The game was then suspended for 28 minutes after lightning was spotted. But the delay didn’t cool off either team’s bats.

Illinois retook the lead with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning, only to watch Northwestern respond right back with three runs of its own over the course of the next two innings.

Illinois promptly responded, scoring three times in the sixth inning and twice more in the seventh on Davis’ second career home run as an Illini to take an 18-14 lead.

“Everybody is going to want to lift the ball and want to hit the home run, but you still have to hit the line drives,” freshman Joe Bonadonna said. “The home runs will come when you do lift the ball on a line.”

Leading by four runs with only six outs to get, the Illini fell victim to two costly errors and three walks in the bottom of the eighth that allowed five Wildcat runs to score.

“Defensively, I thought we did a great job until the inning we gave up five runs,” head coach Dan Hartleb said. “I just think we need to do a better job on routine plays. I don’t think we should ever make errors in that situation and we had two plays that we didn’t make.”

Northwestern’s comeback was capped by senior catcher Pat McMahon, who laced a two-run double to give the Wildcats a 19-18 win. The double by McMahon gave him the rare cycle on the night, as he finished the game 5-6 with two home runs and six RBI’s. Northwestern finished the game with six home runs total.

“It’s definitely difficult to drop a game like this,” Davis said. “The one run losses, whether it be 19-18 or 1-0 are definitely the toughest.”