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Top-seeded Illini eliminated 4-3 by No. 2 Purdue in 11 innings
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Shawn Roof went 3-for-4 with an RBI against Purdue, and was 6-for-7 with 2 RBI and a run in two Big Ten Tournament games.
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May 27, 2005
Champaign, Ill. - Playing for their Big Ten Tournament lives, No. 1-seeded Illinois went extra innings with second seed Purdue but fell 4-3 in 11 innings. With a Boilermaker runner on second and no outs in the bottom of the 11th, Purdue DH John Hunter singled to right field where the ball rolled through Illini rightfielder Trevor Huisinga's legs to allow the winning run to score.
"We got outstanding pitching today from Jim Conroy and we didn't generate enough offense to get the runs we needed," Illinois coach Itch Jones said. "We had a number of opportunities with the guys who have carried us all year at those positions and it just wasn't meant to be. You can't be down on anyone. Without the job that those middle hitters have done all year, we wouldn't be in the tournament anyway."
With the loss, Illinois is eliminated from Big Ten Tournament play while Purdue awaits the loser of tonight's Ohio State-Minnesota clash at 3:35 p.m. Saturday. The Illini (33-23-1) hold out hope for a possible NCAA Tournament bid, which will be announced Monday at 10:30 a.m. on ESPN.
After a scoreless first inning, Illinois drew first blood in the second when centerfielder Drew Davidson (West Des Moines, Iowa) doubled down the right field line, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on third baseman Shawn Roof's (Paducah, Ky.) base hit up the middle. The Illini added another run in the third as second baseman J.R. Kyes (Springfield, Ill.) doubled to left-center to lead off the inning and scored on catcher Chris Robinson's (Dorchester, Ontario) triple to left-center to give Illinois a 2-0 lead.
Purdue fought back with three runs in the bottom of the third to take a 3-2 lead, including an extremely odd play on a hard-hit ball to center field. Purdue first baseman Eric Wolfe blasted a ball to deep center, but Davidson had a bead on it from the start. Davidson sprinted back, jumped and appeared to catch it before slamming into the 400-foot marking on the outfield wall. When he hit the wall, the ball squirted out of his glove and rolled along the top of the fence for a few seconds, first appearing to be headed over the wall before falling onto the warning track. Davidson found it and threw it in to limit Wolfe to a triple, a ruling that stood after an umpire's conference.
"I was actually there and had the ball and I guess when I hit the fence it snapped out," Davidson said. "When I came down, I thought I still had it, but I looked in my glove and it wasn't there. I had feared that it had fallen over the fence and the next thing I know I saw it rolling on the track."
Illinois tied the game 3-3 in the fourth when DH Mike Rohde (Brookfield, Wis.) singled to lead off the inning and advanced to second on Roof's single to right. Both runners moved up a base on Huisinga's (Bartlett, Ill.) sacrifice bunt and Rohde scored on a groundout by shortstop Toby Gardenhire (Little Canada, Minn.).
Illini starting pitcher Jimmy Conroy battled, throwing 10 innings and allowing only four runs - three earned - on 12 hits while striking out two and not giving up a walk. Conroy also pitched to both batters in the 11th before the game ended. But Purdue reliever Jay Buente stifled Illinois, tossing six shutout innings of four-hit ball and walking two with no strikeouts.
Roof continued his hitting tear, going 3-for-4 on the day with an RBI, and Robinson was 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runners thrown out on the basepaths. Rohde finished the day 2-for-4 with a run.
Whatever their NCAA Tournament fate, the Illini will have a Big Ten season to remember, with two series sweeps and six series that they either won or split.
"I feel like we've got the program built back up to where it was in the late '90s and where Illinois baseball should be," Davidson said. "Hopefully the underclassmen can keep it up. The season was a lot fun. We'll have a lot of memories from it and have the ring that will last for a lifetime."
