Illinois (34-19, 18-6) was eliminated by Michigan in the Big Ten tournament on Friday after losing 4-2. Illinois will turn its attention to a potential berth in the NCAA D1 baseball regionals.
Illinois struggled to get anything going offensively, being no-hit through eight innings against Michigan junior pitcher Will Rogers. Rogers threw nine strikeouts against an Illinois team that has had major success at the plate this year.
Michigan’s offense got the scoring started in the third inning when graduate student outfielder Stephen Hurstich singled to right field, bringing freshman catcher Brock Leitgeb home from third base and putting Michigan up 1-0.
Wolverine sophomore infielder Mitch Voit began the fifth inning with a triple into center field that helped set up Michigan’s next score. The payoff from this setup came from Hurstich, who hit a double into right to put Michigan up 2-0.
In the eighth inning, Michigan extended its lead over Illinois when Rogers hit a double into left field. This double brought home their junior infielder Cole Caruso from second after a double to left field, bringing the score to 3-0.
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Michigan’s final score came from a Voit solo shot to left center field. This score came in the top of the ninth inning and was Michigan’s final run of the game. Illinois finally broke up the no-hitter in the bottom of the ninth inning.
Illinois began the bottom of the ninth with two batters popping out. Illinois’s offense got a runner on base when Rogers walked senior outfielder Connor Milton. Rogers’ no-hitter was broken when junior catcher Camden Janik tripled to left field
The triple brought Milton home from first, cutting the Michigan lead to 4-1. Illinois redshirt junior infielder Drake Westcott singled in the bottom of the ninth to bring home Janik, cutting the deficit to 4-2.
Michigan took out Rogers after these two scores, finishing his night with 8.2 innings pitched and nine strikeouts — both career highs — and replaced him with freshman pitcher Dylan Vigue. Illinois’ game ended when junior infielder Vytas Valincius grounded out.
With this elimination, Illinois joins a large group of number-one seeds eliminated before the finals of the tournament. Since the Big Ten expanded to 13 teams, only two number-one seeds have won the tournament: Maryland in 2023 and Minnesota in 2018.
Six of the last seven tournament teams seeded fourth or worse have made the tournament finals. Illinois has struggled in the tournament since 2018, having a record of 1-9, with the one win coming against Iowa on Thursday.
Illinois’s postseason future is currently up in the air. Illinois was projected to be a three seed in the Lexington bracket in D1 baseball’s most recent projections for the NCAA baseball regionals, but will now have to await a potential playoff berth on Selection Monday, May 27 on ESPN 2.
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