Illinois (22-22, 11-10) crushed a season-high six home runs en route to a 10-3 victory over Michigan State (28-16, 10-8), completing the series sweep on Sunday at Illinois Field.
It was Michigan State that would get on the board first in this one, pushing a run across in the first to start the game. Illinois immediately responded their first time up, with Drake Westcott and Jacob Schroeder launching back-to-back solo shots to give the Illini a 2-1 lead.
The Orange and Blue added to their lead in the second when Cal Hejza doubled home Camden Janik, who started the inning with a walk. Westcott then continued his torrid stretch at the plate by slugging another two-out solo home run to make it 4-1. Dating back to his final at-bat on Saturday, the Edwardsville, Ill., native had homered in three-straight plate appearances.
Julius Sanchez, bolstered by the run support, settled in on the mound and kept the Spartans off the board. Sanchez put up three-straight scoreless frames, picking up two strikeouts and inducing two double plays. None of the six hits that he allowed in his outing went for extra bases.
Michigan State would score twice in the fifth to cut the lead to one, but TJ Constertina entered the game in relief and stranded a pair of runners to keep Illinois in front. Constertina would work a total of 1.2 scoreless innings, striking out three batters and allowing just one hit.
The Illini grabbed one of those runs back in the sixth when Janik launched a solo home run two batters into the inning to make it a 5-3 ballgame.
Alex Vera and Korey Bunselmeyer each tossed a scoreless frame in relief to keep Illinois in front, combining for two strikeouts and allowing just one hit.
The Illini broke the game wide open in the eighth by scoring five times to put the contest out of reach. Ryan Moerman led off the inning with a home run and Danny Doligale would double home a pair of runs four batters later. Branden Comia then stepped up and slugged a two-run shot to cap the scoring in the inning and making it a 10-3 game.
Jack Crowder worked a quick 1-2-3 ninth to give Illinois its first Big Ten series sweep of the season.
Westcott was 2-for-5 with two runs, two home runs and two RBI and finished 8-for-15 (.533) in the series with eight runs, five home runs and 10 RBI. Comia went 2-for-5 with a run, home run and two RBI. Janik went 1-for-2 with three runs, a home run, RBI and two walks.
The Fighting Illini will be back in action on Friday when they begin their final Big Ten series of the season at Rutgers.
