Illinois Falls To Purdue In Big Ten Baseball Semifinals, 11-5
University of Illinois Intercollegiate Athletics
Illinois bowed out of the Big Ten Baseball Tournament Saturday, with an 11-5 semifinal loss to 2nd-seeded Purdue.
Purdue (37-18) rallied from three runs down to win the game, and advance to the Big Ten Tournament championship game, against top-seeded Minnesota on Sunday in Omaha, Nebraska..
Purdue spotted Illinois (33-20) a 4-1 lead. But the Boilermakers scored four times in the fifth inning, thanks largely to a pair of Illini errors, and tacked on four more in the seventh for a 9-5 lead.
The Boilermakers' Nick Dalesandro had a pair of hits and scored three runs, and teammate Harry Shipley also had two hits and three runs
The Illini finished the Big Ten tournament 2-2 with two wins over Indiana, a top-30 RPI (rating percentage index) team, and losses to 11th-seeded Minnesota and Purdue, also both top-30 RPI teams.
Bo Hofstra (5-3) got the win for the Boilermakers, while Ryan Schmitt (2-3) took the loss for Illinois.
Illinois will find out Monday morning that its NCAA Tournament fate will be. That announcement is scheduled for 11 a.m. (Central Time) on ESPNU.
The Illini entered Saturday as a predicted NCAA Tournament team by the major college baseball publications. Illinois' RPI was at No. 44 before the day began.