In the Wednesday, April 23 edition of The Daily Illini, the article “Illini baseball team gets back on track” incorrectly defined hitting for a cycle in baseball. The correct definition of a cycle is a single, a double, a triple and a home run.

The Daily Illini regrets this error.

The following is the story as it appeared in print that day.

Aaron Johnson came a triple away from the cycle (a single, a doulbe, and a triple) and Billy Barrett pitched five innings of two-run baseball as the Illini toppled intrastate rival Illinois State, 10-4, at Illinois Field.

The Illinois baseball team entered Tuesday night’s game having lost its last four at home – all against Michigan – and the players got back on track with their bats, arms and gloves, all of which struggled during the last homestand.

“In athletics you just have to have a short memory,” Illinois coach Dan Hartleb said. “There’s good days, there’s bad days, and I thought our guys rebounded real well. We’ve been very focused and we came back out tonight ready to go again. We’re in a very good frame of mind as a club.”

Junior Joe Bonadonna, who was named the Big Ten Co-Player of the Week for his performance in Minnesota last weekend, entered the game on a 7-for-7 streak and added two more hits in the first and second innings. He struck out swinging in the fourth to end the streak at nine.

“It’s awesome,” Hartleb said. “That’s a very nice streak.”

The Illini (22-14) drew first blood against the Redbirds (17-19), sending nine batters to the plate in the four-run second inning. Dominic Altobelli got things going with a chopper that made its way through the middle, and two batters later, Daniel Webb muscled a single over the shortstop’s head.

With two on and one out, Johnson came to the plate and lined Corey Maines’ slider over the left-field wall to put the Illini up 3-0, and Illinois never trailed.

“Coming back from Minnesota, I hit some balls hard, they just didn’t fall for me,” Johnson said. “(Maines) threw me a first pitch slider for a strike then he missed with a fastball in, so when he came back with the slider, I was lucky he threw it.”

Johnson finished the game 3-for-4 with two runs scored and four RBIs. The sophomore transfer has been getting most of the starts since the Indiana series at the beginning of the month, and Tuesday’s performance was his third three-hit game of the season.

“Aaron has been productive and deserves to be in the starting lineup right now,” said Hartleb, who went back and forth between Johnson and Chris Montgomery as his starting backstop in the first half of the season. “(Johnson’s) hot right now, he’s swinging at good pitches and hitting the ball on the nose.”

The Illini have now won four of their last five, also due in part to the team’s starting pitcher. Barrett, making his third start of the season, was dominant for much of the game. He only got into trouble in the fourth, when he allowed the hitters he walked and hit by pitch to score. The sophomore right-hander picked up his second win of the season, and has a 2.77 ERA in games he’s started.