The Illinois baseball team broke out of the basement of the Big Ten standings by taking three of four games from Iowa this past weekend in front of 4,381 fans, the fourth-best all-time series attendance total at Illinois Field.

Illinois limited Iowa to only eight runs in its three wins, defeating the Hawkeyes 12-3, 4-3, 10-2 before dropping the series finale 17-3 to Iowa.

“We were the aggressors all through the first three games,” junior third baseman Mike Rohde said. “We only have two home series left so it was big for us to win three out of four. The last game leaves a bad taste in our mouth, but when we look back we can take a lot of positives from the weekend.”

Friday night’s game marked senior pitcher Matt Whitmore’s return to the mound as a starter. Whitmore threw 6 and a 1/3 innings for the Illini, giving up three runs on three hits and striking out six Hawkeyes.

“I didn’t really expect to throw as many innings as I did,” Whitmore said. “But the coaches keep confidence in me. I was really just focusing on spotting my fastball and keeping the ball down. I just kept battling and trying to get ground balls to minimize the other team’s run production.”

At the plate the Illini hitters came through with clutch two-out hits throughout the entire game. All 12 of Illinois’ runs Friday night were scored with two outs.

Rohde got the Illini started on the night with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning to give Illinois a 3-0 lead. Illinois would tack on four more runs over the course of the next two innings to take a 7-0 lead.

Leading 8-1 with two outs in the bottom of the fifth inning, Illini sophomore second baseman Ryan Hastings delivered the knockout blow for the Illini, hitting the second home run of his career to push the Illini lead to 10-1. Illinois would add runs in the sixth and eighth innings to finish off the Hawkeyes, 12-3.

“Throughout the whole game coach Hartleb was telling us to keep playing hard because crazy things can happen,” Hastings said. “You never know with this field what can happen so we wanted to keep scoring.”

Illinois freshmen pitchers Ben Reeser and Tanner Roark shut down Iowa in the two seven inning games Saturday.

In game one, Reeser threw six innings and gave up just three runs on five hits to lead the Illini to a 4-3 victory and earn his third win of the season. Roark took the mound in the second game of the day and nearly matched Reeser’s performance, pitching five innings and giving up two runs on four hits.

Roark’s performance was backed by senior first baseman Dave Schultz. Schultz went 2-4 with five RBI’s and belted his fourth home run of the season. Junior designated-hitter Chase Kliment also added a home run for the Illini in the top of the sixth to give Illinois a 10-2 win.

“I thought it was important we pitched well,” head coach Dan Hartleb said. “I was very pleased with Ben and Tanner’s composure. You don’t always know what you’re going to get from freshmen. They both went after hitters early, and even when they had a little trouble, they bounced back and made a big pitch.”

In the finale Sunday, the Hawkeyes finally broke through against the Illini pitching staff, plating 17 runs against the Illini to salvage the final game of the series, 17-3.

Illinois started the weekend in last place in the Big Ten, but with its three wins moved up to seventh place in the standings with a 20-13, 7-9 Big Ten record.

“Realistically, this weekend was very important for us,” Hartleb said. “We started out last in the Big Ten and now we have jumped up a little bit. I’ve told everybody all year that I believe in the team because there is no quit in them. We’ve had some struggles but when you have good players that stay composed, you have a chance to win.”