Illinois got an early lead and was able to hang on to survive for at least another day in the Big Ten Tournament.

The Illini bested the Wolverines of Michigan 3-2 in an elimination game for both teams on the second day of the conference tournament. Illinois scored runs in the first and second innings to establish the early advantage and added an insurance run in the fifth that ended up being the difference.

Right-hander John Kravetz went 7 1/3 innings for Illinois, notching seven strikeouts and allowing two earned runs, eight hits and no walks.

Kravetz struggled early and late in his outing, with fairly smooth sailing between. He opened the game with a hit batsman before consecutive singles loaded the bases. He found a comfort zone from there, striking out three straight Wolverines hitters.

“After that first inning … he was fired up, pumped up the dug out a little bit, got the guys going and from there on he was as good as I’ve seen him,” shortstop Thomas Lindauer said.

Illinois responded in the bottom half of the frame with two singles to start the inning, and a throwing error put Lindauer and Michael Hurwitz in scoring position. Lindauer was able to score on a fielder’s choice, but Michigan got out of the jam without further damage.

After a one-two-three inning for Kravetz, the Orange and Blue used the bottom of the lineup to add on to their lead. Reid Roper singled to start the rally, then Davis Hendrickson was hit by a pitch and Kelly Norris-Jones dropped a sacrifice bunt that Michigan pitcher Logan McAnallen misfired to first base, loading the bases. Lindauer hit a fly ball to left field that was deep enough to plate Roper. Again after sustaining minimal damage, the Wolverines escaped the inning.

Kravetz allowed a double to begin the third, and two sacrifice flies later, Michigan was on the board. The game remained 2-1 until the fifth inning, when a Hurwitz triple plated Lindauer, who had preceded the hit with a single of his own. Up 3-1 with a runner on third and no outs, Illinois failed to pad the lead further.

Lindauer scored two runs on the day and hit in the third on a sacrifice fly. The first team all-conference selection brought his hitting streak to 14 games.

“I’ve done a better job of keeping it simple here recently, I got a little long for a little bit and started struggling, and I just kinda got back to the basics, shortened up on the bat a little bit and I’m just trying to hit the ball where it’s pitched,” he said. “I’m doing a better job of that, and it’s obviously paid off.”

Lindauer’s offense was much needed, as the normally reliable Justin Parr went 0-for-3 in the innings in which Illinois scored. All three of those at-bats came with runners in scoring position. He was 0-for-4 on the day.

Since the final game of his 33-game hit streak, Parr has gone 3-for-21. He has gone hitless in four of those six games, Hartleb remains confident in the Big Ten Player of the Year.

“He’s still taking good swings. It’s just — that’s baseball,” he said. “That’s what’s so amazing about a hitting streak: You can take great swings and smoke balls and they go right at people. And that happened today.”

Fortunately for the Illini, Kravetz’s pitching needed very little run support, as he kept the Wolverines at bay until the eighth inning, where he ran into trouble.

He surrendered a triple to start the inning, and a sacrifice fly knocked in a run to make it 3-2. Head coach Dan Hartleb left Kravetz in, with one out and the bases cleared, but the sophomore’s next pitch was golfed into left center for a double.

“(Kravetz) was over 100 pitches and a little tired, we thought after he gave up the one run on the triple and sac fly, thought he’d just get through that inning,” Hartleb said. “I probably left him in there one inning too long.”

Lefty J.D. Nielsen came in to face Michigan’s left-handed left fielder, Zach Zott, but Nielsen threw a wild pitch — advancing the runner to third — on his way to a four-pitch walk. Hartleb then put in Drasen Johnson, who threw a strikeout before inducing an inning-ending groundout.

Closer Bryan Roberts got the save despite allowing a one-out walk in the ninth. It was his seventh save of the season, tied for the seventh most in program history. Roberts holds the second place spot from his 2010 campaign in which he got nine saves.

“The whole staff did a good job just getting it done,” Hartleb said.

For Kravetz, the win brought his season record to 5-2, and was one of his better performances of the season.

“He did a better job today of trusting his fastball, which I think he gets away from his fastball sometimes,” Lindauer said. “When he’s throwing his fastball, he can be as good as anybody I’ve seen, especially with the amount of movement he has.”

Illinois could face either Indiana, Ohio State or Minnesota next, depending on the results of the other two Thursday games. Freshman Ryan Castellanos will start the 12:05 p.m. game for Illinois on Friday, and if the Illini are able to win that, they will turn around for another game at 3:30 p.m.

Hartleb said he does not know who will start that game if necessary, but that Kevin Johnson is unavailable for the rest of the tournament, meaning Illinois would have to look outside its normal rotation starters Kevin Johnson, Castellanos, Kravetz and Kevin Duchene.

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