Penn State pitcher Jack Anderson dangled Game 34 in front of Illinois’ Justin Parr, hoping he would take the bait. First base was open for the Nittany Lions — who had just allowed the tying run to steal second with two outs in the seventh inning — so it only made sense to put one the NCAA’s hottest bats there and not risk further damage. Parr was 0-for-2 on the day, and his NCAA-best hit streak of 33 games was in jeopardy.

Rather than throw out four intentional walk pitches, however, Anderson threw around the plate, thinking Parr might be desperate to keep the streak alive. The senior center fielder showed poise and maturity, and resisted any temptation to swing at balls out of the zone.

Illinois responded, after Justin Parr took his free pass, with a frozen rope back over Anderson’s head and into center field off the bat of none other than Jordan Parr.

The runner on second, Thomas Lindauer, wheeled around to score as Justin Parr headed to third. He had exchanged his record streak for a tying run, and that’s a deal he would take any day.

“As a competitor, it’s not easy to go 0-for, but at that point, I just wanted to win,” Justin Parr said.

One inning later, an errant pickoff attempt by Penn State pitcher Ian Parvin put the go-ahead run at third base. Reid Roper capitalized on a shallow infield with a bouncer through the middle to put Illinois ahead for good, 5-4.

A win Sunday completed a much needed three-game weekend sweep of Penn State (12-34, 3-18 Big Ten), helping the Illini (31-15, 12-9) keep pace in the conference standings. Illinois currently sits in sixth place in the conference, and only the top six teams qualify for the conference tournament.

The Illini pitching rotation has been shuffled around lately with ace Kevin Johnson, who is experiencing arm soreness, missing two of his past three starts. In his absence, freshman Kevin Duchene threw a two-hit complete game shutout Friday for his seventh win of the season as the Illini romped 9-0. Ryan Castellanos, also a freshman, pitched six quality innings Saturday before running into trouble and allowing three runs in the seventh in a game Illinois won 8-6.

Drasen Johnson collected the win on the mound Sunday after starter John Kravetz went six innings allowing four runs, two unearned. Kravetz has normally pitched Saturdays, but has started three of the past four Sunday matches, and said he doesn’t know what day he’ll pitch going forward.

Penn State got on the board first Sunday in the second with a two-out rally that consisted of an error, two walks and a two-RBI single. On that play, first baseman David Kerian caught Zach Ell trying to go to third from first, and threw him out to end the inning after the two runs had crossed.

An inning later, Kravetz got in a jam by allowing a single to right center followed by back-to-back bunt singles. With the bases loaded, Penn State catcher Alex Farkes drove in two runs to push the Nittany Lions ahead 4-0.

It stayed that way until the bottom of the sixth inning, when Penn State took out its starter, Nick Hedge, who had thrown five innings of one-hit ball.

“(He was a) soft-tossing lefty, throwing a lot of offspeed for strikes,” Jordan Parr said. “He was kinda flipping them in there and we were just popping up to infielders and rolling over … we were stringing together really bad at-bats. No one was even on base; it was like we were flying through our lineup.”

Hedge was removed from the game after five innings because he had pitched 2 1/3 innings of relief on Friday. In 7 1/3 combined innings, Hedge allowed two hits over the weekend.

Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb changed his team’s offensive strategy when Hedge was removed, putting his hitters in “catch-up” mode, meaning they would not swing until they took a strike, which Jordan Parr thought helped the Illini turn the game around.

“I think he showed why he’s one of the better coaches in the Big Ten and why he keeps getting these 30-win seasons, because he does things like that,” he said. “He shows confidence in our guys, and just relaxed our lineup, one through nine, and we kinda reaped the benefits.”

The Orange and Blue concluded the game with seven hits, six of which came after the fifth inning, and though his hitless performance ended his impressive hit streak, Justin Parr wasn’t focusing on his personal numbers so much as his team’s success. He was due up in the bottom of the ninth, but Illinois closer Bryan Roberts sealed the game in the top half of the inning.

“I didn’t even want another at-bat, honestly,” Justin Parr said. “So for us to go out and get a win, that’s really important. I wanna make the tournament, man.”

Eliot can be reached at [email protected] and @EliotTweet.