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Illini Take Series With Wild Series Finale Over Michigan State; Move Up In Latest Poll

No. 15 Illinois won its fourth straight series and first in Big Ten play with a 13-9 victory over Michigan State on Monday. The Illini racked up 14 hits and scored in five innings, including a five-run second and three runs in the seventh and ninth. UI improved to 20-6-1, marking the fastest Illinois team to reach 20 wins since 1989 (25 games).

 width=Starter John Kravetz improved to 2-0 on the season and 21-7 in his career, moving him alone into eighth place on the school's all-time wins list. He turned in 6.1 innings.

Illinois jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the second. Four straight singles started the stanza, as sophomore Ryne Roper drove home Casey Fletcher for the first run.

With the bases loaded, senior Will Krug drew a bases-loaded walk that pushed across junior Jason Goldstein and featured a wild pitch on ball four, allowing senior David Kerian to score from second. Redshirt-sophomore Adam Walton capped off the rally with a two-run single, plating Ryne Roper and Krug.

MSU scored twice in the sixth, but UI responded with three runs in the seventh. The Spartans scored seven runs over the next two innings to get back within one at 10-9.

Illinois added three insurance runs in the top of the ninth to provide a four-run cushion. McInerney scored on a wild pitch during Krug's at-bat and Goldstein came home on another wild pitch when Krug walked. Four of Illinois' 13 runs scored on wild pitches. Walton tacked on the final run with an RBI single that drove in Kerian.

No. 15 Illinois will square off with Missouri on Tuesday night at 6:30 p.m. in Sauget, Illinois, at GCS Ballpark, home of the Gateway Grizzlies of the Frontier League.

Before the game, Illinois moved up two spots to No. 15 in the D1 Baseball poll, marking the highest Illini ranking since finishing No. 11 in the 1962 Collegiate Baseball poll.

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