March 30, 2003

Box Score

Champaign, Ill. - A complete game effort from starting pitcher Joe Ziemba and a three-run home run off centerfielder Brandon Cashman's bat led Illinois to a 7-2 win over Indiana in the first game of Sunday's doubleheader. Illinois improved to 12-4 overall and 2-1 in the Big Ten with the win.

The first game of the day didn't waste anytime to get interesting. Illinois starter Joe Ziemba gave up three-straight singles to start the inning, eventually giving IU a 2-0 lead before Illinois had the chance to bat.

But Illinois took it all right back and more in the bottom of the first. Facing IU starter Chris Behrens, the Illini made two quick outs before sending eight batters to the plate and scoring five runs before making the third and final out of the inning. Brandon Cashman had the biggest blast of the inning, hitting his team-leading fourth home run of the season over the right field wall for three runs. Sean Patrick added an RBI double and shortstop Eric Eymann added an RBI single to give Illinois a 5-2 lead and chase Behrens from the game in favor of reliever Austin Rhoads.

Illinois added two more off of Rhoads in the bottom of the second. Vince DiMaria and Andy Schutzenhofer led off with back-to-back singles, and an error by IU shortstop Seth Bynum put Dusty Bensko on first and scored DiMaria following Schutzenhofer's single. Drew Davidson subsequently hit a one-out sacrifice fly to center to score Schutzenhofer and open up a 7-2 Illinois lead after two innings.

Ziemba (2-0) earned the win after throwing a complete game seven innings. He allowed two runs on six hits while striking out five. He did not walk a batter and did not allow a run after the first inning. Behrens suffered the loss, falling to 2-1 on the year. He was charged with five runs on five hits in 2/3 innings of work. He walked one and did not strike out a batter.