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Illini Lefty Gets Big Ten Pitcher of the Week Honors; Move Up In Latest Polls


University of Illinois junior Kevin Duchene became the third Illini this season to win Big Ten Pitcher of the Week honors, announced the conference office Monday. The Joliet, Illinois, native only gave up two hits and did not allow an earned run over seven innings in Friday night's 13-1 win, which snapped USF's nine-game winning streak.

 width=Duchene improved to 3-1 on the season and lowered his ERA to 0.67, which ranks second in the Big Ten. He fanned eight and only allowed one base on balls, giving him 32 strikeouts (3rd in Big Ten) and two walks (2nd in Big Ten) on the year. He has limited opponents to a .167 average (4th in Big Ten), with only 16 hits in 27 innings pitched.

Duchene collected his third career Big Ten Pitcher of the Week laurel, as we won it as both a freshman (5/13/13) and sophomore (3/3/14). UI hurlers have earned half the weekly awards in 2015, with all three being LHP: Duchene (March 23), Tyler Jay (March 9) and Rob McDonnell (Feb. 16).

>>Illini Move Up In Polls

The Illini moved up one spot to No. 17 in the D1Baseball.com Top 25, marking the program's highest ranking since finishing No. 16 in the 1990 Baseball America final poll.
Illinois is also ranked No. 21 by Perfect Game, No. 22 by Collegiate Baseball and the USA TODAY Coaches Poll, No. 25 by Baseball America and No. 26 by NCBWA.

No. 17 Illinois will host two midweek games at Illinois Field today against Illinois State at 4 p.m. and tomorrow against Kent State at 3 p.m.

A trip to East Lansing for their first Big Ten series at Michigan State is on the horizon this weekend.

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