Northwestern University Athletics
Northwestern
Illinois *
Illinois Sweeps Series; Wins Game Four 17-3
5/8/2005 12:00:00 AM | Baseball
May 8, 2005
Box Score
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - Illinois hit seven home runs, including three in a nine-run seventh inning, to sweep the Big Ten series against Northwestern with a 17-3 series-finale win. Junior Pat McMahon went 2-for-4 with a home run and Jon Mikrut hit two doubles in the loss. NU is now 21-23 overall, 10-14 in the Big Ten.
Illinois took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning on a solo home run to left field. Wildcat starter Andrew Smith (Fort Mitchell, Ky./Beechwood) gave up two hits in the inning, but struck out the side.
The Illini took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the third, hitting their second solo home run of the game.
Northwestern cut the lead in half on Stanley Finch's (Lubbock, Texas/Cooper) bad-hop single through the left side. Right fielder Antonio Mule (Lodi, N.J./Lodi) doubled to lead off the inning and scored on Finch's hit.
Illinois got the run back in the bottom half of the fourth inning, as center fielder Drew Davidson hit his second solo home run of the game for a 3-1 Illini lead.
Illinois extended its lead to 5-1, hitting its fourth home run of the game -- this time a two-run shot in the bottom of the fifth. After five complete innings, Illinois led 5-1.
The Illini added to their lead in the bottom of the sixth inning, using a two-out single to plate their sixth run of the game. Back-to-back one-out singles and a fly-out to right field put the runner in scoring position.
The Wildcats got a run back in the top of the seventh when designated hitter Pat McMahon (Mundelein, Ill./Carmel) hit his fifth home run of the season.
In the bottom of the seventh, a single and a walk prompted head coach Paul Stevens to make a change on the mound. Senior left-hander Chris Davidson (Huntington Woods, Mich./Berkley) came on to pitch for the Wildcats.
Illinois' Davidson was the first hitter NU's Davidson faced. The Illini batter hit his third home run of the game, this time a three-run shot to left field. The next two hitters both singled as sophomore Dan Schwartz (New York, N.Y./Northern Valley Regional) came on in relief of Davidson. Schwartz did not fare much better. In the inning, Illinois scored nine runs on eight hits, three of which were home runs. One of those home runs was a grand slam.
NU plated a run in the top of the ninth, taking advantage of an Illinois throwing error.
NOTES:
Jon Mikrut extended his season-long hitting streak to 10 games with a first-inning double.
Pat McMahon extended his hitting streak to 11 games with a third-inning single. McMahon longest hitting streak this season is 17 games. McMahon's third-inning single gave him 70 hits on the season. He is the second Wildcat in as many years to reach the 70-hit plateau. Mark Ori had 73 hits in 2004.
