Two outs, one man on and the game tied in the top of the ninth inning against the No. 1 team in the nation – the story couldn’t have been scripted any better.

So when Illinois junior catcher Aaron Johnson stepped up to the plate on Friday night, it was up to him to decide how the story would end.

“I was just hoping to get a base hit and bring the guy on second in,” Johnson said. “But then their pitcher threw me a slider.”

Johnson smashed a two-run homer over the left-center field wall, instantly becoming a hero in Illinois’ 3-1 victory against No. 1 LSU and stunning a sellout crowd of 10,246.

The Illini (7-2) won two out of three in Baton Rouge, La., handing the Tigers (10-2) their first pair of losses in the newly-built Alex Box Stadium.

“Overall, our players were very composed,” said Illini head coach Dan Hartleb. “It was impressive to see how they did the whole weekend, and how well prepared they were.”

The Tigers boasted an impressive resume coming into the series. Their offense had outscored opponents a combined 109-25 in nine games, and pitchers Austin Ross and Anthony Ranaudo had allowed three earned runs in four total starts. But despite the impressive stats, the Illini entered the series with confidence.

“Our players didn’t come in (to Baton Rouge) waiting to see what was going to happen,” Hartleb said. “They came down here to win.”

Illinois’ only loss of the weekend came on Saturday evening in a game that featured three grand slams, 32 total hits and 11 pitchers. LSU sophomores Leon Landry and Micah Gibbs accounted for nine RBIs between the two of them, each hitting a grand slam.

“We struggled,” Hartleb said of Saturday’s game. “We didn’t pitch well. We walked 11 batters, and then you add on 16 hits on top of that … when you do that against any good team you get into trouble real fast.”

The lone bright spot for the Illini in the 22-10 defeat was freshman Willie Argo, who got his first career start in right field and homered in his first three collegiate at-bats.

“I couldn’t believe it after the first one,” Argo said. “Then I just laughed after the second and felt like it was just one of those days after the third.”

Argo finished the game 3-for-3 with five RBIs and scored four runs.

“Willie had a tremendous day,” Hartleb said. “I’m not sure I’ve ever seen anybody start off their college career like that.”

The Illini might have seen Argo’s performance as a reason not to dwell on the lopsided loss and bounced back with a 6-2 win on Sunday afternoon to take the series. Senior Ben Reeser started on the mound and got his second win after pitching 8 2/3 innings. Johnson also had another impressive performance at the plate, batting 3-for-4. He finished the weekend 6-for-12 with 5 RBIs.

“It felt awesome … Anytime you beat a number-one team, it shows what kind of team you are,” Johnson said.