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Illinois Sweeps Purdue

The No. 25 Illinois baseball team finished a three-game sweep of Purdue with a 6-4 win Sunday at Illinois Field. 

 

Jeff Korte, Branden Comia, Michael Massey and Kellen Sarver all had two hits to pace the Illinois offense. Korte drove in the final go-ahead run on a triple in the sixth, then scored on one of Michael Michalak's two sacrifice flies. 

 

Purdue (19-31, 7-13 Big Ten) tied a world record by not striking out in the game, but had just three hits after the third inning. The Boilermakers had a 3-2 lead in the fourth and tied it 4-4 in the sixth before Illinois pulled ahead and finished them off.

 

Both teams used five pitchers, ending with Illinois closer Garrett Acton picking up his 17th save. Acton is tied with UT Arlington's Andrew Gross for the national lead and one save away from tying the Big Ten record held by Ohio State's Jake Hale in 2009 (18).

 

Illinois finishes the regular season Thursday-Saturday at Michigan State.

 

It was a grind of a weekend for Illinois, which won in 12 innings Friday, waited out a four-hour rain delay Saturday and celebrated 14 seniors on Senior Day Sunday. The seniors celebrated their graduation weekend with Illinois' seventh weekend sweep of the season.

 

Illinois (34-16, 13-8 Big Ten) won its fifth straight Big Ten series and moved to 12-3 in its last 15 games. The Illini have jumped up to a tie for third place in the Big Ten standings, one game back of second-place Indiana.

 

The Illini officially clinched a berth in the eight-team Big Ten Tournament, which starts May 22 at TD Ameritrade Park in Omaha, Nebraska. 

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