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March 8, 2009

Box Score

BATON ROUGE, La. - Senior starting pitcher Ben Reeser had the start of a lifetime, tossing 8 2/3 innings of shutout ball before giving up two runs in the ninth and striking out a career-high nine LSU Tigers, to lift Illinois (7-2) to a series victory over No. 1 LSU with a 6-2 win in front of 9,344 fans at Alex Box Stadium. Catcher Aaron Johnson went 3-for-4 with a run and designated hitter Casey McMurray was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a stolen base as the Orange and Blue registered their second win over the top-ranked Tigers (10-2) in three days.

The victory marks the first series win over a top-five team since Illinois took two-of-three games at No. 3 Houston in 2000. And the Illini will go down in Alex Box Stadium history as the first team to both win a game and a series against the Tigers in their brand-new digs.

"Our pitching on Friday and today was outstanding," Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb said. "Reeser was throwing three different pitches for strikes and they didn't make adjustments. He competed well and was very, very good today. We tried to give him an opportunity to get that complete game, but he got a little tired, and then Nick Chmielewski came in and shut it down for us."

In his last two starts, Reeser has allowed just three earned runs in 16 1/3 innings of work, a 1.65 ERA, allowing only 12 hits and four walks while striking out 15.

Reeser made quick work of the Tigers in the first, retiring the side on just 10 pitches. After a scoreless second inning, Illinois grabbed an early 2-0 lead thanks to a pair of Tiger miscues in the third. With one out, second baseman Josh Parr legged out an infield single and advanced all the way to third on a failed pickoff attempt by LSU starter Austin Ross. Center fielder Joe Bonadonna knocked in Parr with an infield hit of his own and advanced to second on the shortstop D.J. LeMahieu's throwing error. McMurray continued the rally, plating Bonadonna with a single into center field.

Parr thwarted the beginnings of a Tiger charge in the bottom of the third with a heads-up save. With a runner on first and nobody out, LSU's Chad Jones sent a chopper through the right side of the infield. Parr made a diving stop in the outfield grass and whipped it to third baseman Dominic Altobelli as the lead runner got caught up between second and third. Altobelli threw it back to shortstop Brandon Wikoff, who applied the tag at second for the first out of the inning. Reeser struck out the next batter and induced a fly out to center to end the inning.

Illinois added a run in the fifth to go ahead 3-0 when Bonadonna knocked a two-out double and McMurray sent a liner over the head of the Tiger shortstop to drove in Bonadonna for the second time on the day.

The Illini were unable to get to LSU reliever Matty Ott, who threw two scoreless innings, but they jumped on Paul Bertuccini, who allowed three consecutive hits followed by back-to-back walks to start the three-run eighth. After Wikoff's leadoff double to right, Altobelli sent a liner to the same spot, scoring Wikoff. Johnson singled up the middle and left LeMahieu with no play as Altobelli moved to third. A walk to first baseman Matt Dittman loaded the bases and another base on balls to Pete Cappetta forced home Altobelli. One out later, Bertuccini hit Parr in the hip, which scored Johnson and increased the margin to 6-0. Spencer Mathews replaced Bertuccini and two hard-hit liners ended the fruitful frame.

Reeser struck out the first two hitters in the eighth before running into a rough patch. He walked the third hitter in the inning and gave up a double to center but got LeMahieu to line out to end the inning. Then in the bottom of the ninth, Reeser got a first-pitch groundout and struck out the next hitter. But he gave up a home run to Sean Ochinko, followed by a pair of pinch-hit doubles, to cut Illinois' lead to 6-2. Chmielewski came on to strike out pinch hitter Nick Pontiff, who homered on Friday for LSU's only run in that game.

Bonadonna went 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and two runs, and Altobelli went 2-for-5 with a double, an RBI and a run. Parr, Wikoff and Dittman each registered one hit to account for the rest of Illinois' 12 hits as they out-hit the potent Tigers, 12-6. For the series, Illinois out-hit LSU 34-31, made only two errors compared to the Tigers' four and stole three bases to LSU's two. Johnson and the pitching staff effectively shut down one of the best running games in the nation, as LSU entered the weekend having stolen 30-of-35 bases in nine games.

On the weekend, Johnson hit .500 with the decisive two-run homer on Friday and a total of five RBIs with two runs. Wikoff also hit .500 with a double, a triple, one RBI and four runs. Cappetta went 4-for-10 (.400) with a double, an RBI and two runs, and McMurray hit .385 with two RBIs and three runs. Meanwhile, the Illini pitchers held LeMahieu, who entered the game hitting an SEC-best .607, to 3-for-10 on the weekend with no extra-base hits or RBIs and broke his 25-game hitting streak.

Up Next: The Fighting Illini return to Illinois Field for their home opener against Akron on Friday, March 13, with the first pitch slated for 3 p.m. The Illini and Zips square off in a four-game weekend series at Illinois Field.