Illinois baseball (23-13) swept Northwestern (12-23) in three games, winning 5-3 on Friday, 7-1 on Saturday and 11-7 on Sunday. The Illini reached a seven-game win streak, advancing to a record of 14-1 at Illinois Field this season.
The Wildcats jumped on a 2-0 lead early on Friday before graduate student designated hitter Jacob Schroeder started up the Illini bats with a solo home run in the second inning. An RBI single from junior catcher Camden Janik tied the game up in the third.
Senior right-handed pitcher Jack Crowder started on the mound and retired 14 straight batters after allowing hits to the first two he faced. This kept the Illini in the game and provided a comfortable lead as Schroeder put one across on an RBI single. Junior third baseman Coltin Quagliano brought a run in on a groundout and senior center fielder Connor Milton drove a run in on a base knock to put Illinois up 5-2.
The Wildcats added a run in the fifth inning and threatened multiple times down the stretch with runners in scoring position, but Crowder and the Illini bullpen left them stranded and put up a goose egg in the final four frames. Crowder advanced to 3-1 on the season with his fourth quality start and seven strikeouts across 6.2 innings of work.
The start was given to graduate left-handed pitcher Cooper Omans on Saturday who worked 7.0 innings allowing only one run in the eighth inning and two hits from the Wildcats. The Illini got on the board with an RBI double from Quagliano. Senior shortstop Cal Hejza scored Quagliano on a single to put the Illini up 2-0 in the second inning.
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The Illinois lead was extended with a two-run bomb from Milton in the fourth inning. An RBI single from junior first baseman Drake Westcott and another two-run homer from Milton capped off the scoring and gave Illinois the 7-1 win.
Freshman outfielder Cameron Chee-Aloy has been Illinois’ leadoff hitter since the Southern Indiana tournament in mid-March but was replaced in centerfield by Milton this weekend. Chee-Aloy went 6-9 at the plate last weekend against Northern Illinois, and Milton filled his shoes abundantly by going 9-12 with three home runs this weekend.
“(Chee-Aloy) is a little bit banged up from last week; just wanted to get him out of the lineup for a couple (of) days and get healthy, and Connor made that easy,” head coach Dan Hartleb said. “He had an unbelievable weekend and I’m really proud of him.”
On Sunday, Northwestern got on the board first on a passed ball. Quagliano shot a ball up the box and drove in Schroeder to tie the game at one. Quagliano put Illinois in front in the fourth inning with another RBI single. Milton followed it up with his third home run of the weekend, a three-run bomb over the left field wall.
A looping single from Schroeder into shallow right field brought another runner home in the fifth inning and gave the Illini a 6-1 lead. The Wildcats cut into the Illini lead with a two RBI-double in the left-center gap to make it 6-3 in the sixth. The Illini pulled ahead in the bottom of the sixth and loaded the bases with a single from Quagliano, a double from Milton down the right field line and Hejza was hit by a pitch. Janik cleared the bases with a line drive grand slam over the left field wall to put the Illini up 10-3.
Northwestern added a run in the eighth inning with a towering solo home run, but Illinois answered with an RBI single from Quagliano that brought in graduate second baseman Brody Harding who got on base with a double. The Wildcats made a final push in the ninth inning, scoring on a two-RBI double and an RBI groundout, but it was not enough as the Illini took the 11-7 victory to secure their third series sweep of the season.
Illinois baseball plays one more game at Illinois Field on Tuesday evening before heading to Maryland for a three-game Big Ten series.
