Apart from the Easter holiday, the Illinois baseball team had plenty to celebrate at Illinois Field this weekend.

Illinois (24-6-1, 5-1 Big Ten) finished off a series sweep against in-state rival Northwestern (8-22, 2-4) with a 17-2 win Sunday afternoon. The blowout victory marked head coach Dan Hartleb’s 300th career win — all at Illinois.

After being drenched with a bucket of Gatorade by his players, Hartleb spoke on his milestone.

“It’s nice to get it this early in the year because we’re having a lot of success,” Hartleb said. “It comes down to having great support from the administration here, having a number of good players that have done a great job during their careers and, again, having great players this year. It feels good, especially to do it on Easter Sunday.”

The Illini swung hot bats Sunday, piling up 20 hits en route to scoring in six of nine innings. Contributions came from up and down the lineup — six different players had at least two hits, nine different players drove in a run and eight different Illini crossed home plate.

Senior starter John Kravetz improved to 3-0 by scattering eight hits and two runs across six innings.

Senior second baseman Reid Roper started the scoring onslaught with a three-run homer in the first inning and finished the day with five hits and four runs. He was a double short of batting for the cycle.

“It was a very good day for us,” Hartleb said. “We got off to a great start the first inning and just continued to tack on.”

The weekend series didn’t start off as easily for Illinois. Friday night’s 13-inning thriller was the Illini’s longest game of the season before sophomore Pat McInerney belted a two-run shot over the right field wall to win the series opener.

Illinois managed just one run in the third inning before the game-winning hit and rode stellar pitching into the extra innings. Starter Kevin Duchene allowed one unearned run and struck out ten in nine innings. Sophomore reliever Cody Sedlock pitched three shutout innings to earn the win, and closer Tyler Jay capped it off in the 13th.

“They’re unbelievable,” McInerney said of the pitching staff. “They’re one of the best in the nation, and I think they know that. They use that confidence. I think it shows.”

Saturday’s win wasn’t as nail-biting as the series opener. The Illini scored eight runs in the first five innings on their way to an 11-4 routing of the Wildcats. Five different Illini had multiple hits, including junior catcher Jason Goldstein, who belted two doubles and finished the game with two runs batted in and three runs.

Saturday starter Drasen Johnson notched his fourth win of the season, allowing three runs and striking out seven batters before exiting in the eighth inning.

Illinois now has two consecutive series wins to begin Big Ten play. With 44 total hits and just seven runs allowed on the weekend, Hartleb was happy with his team’s performance against the conference foe.

“We’ve competed very well, and it’s always nice to get a great start,” Hartleb said.

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