Illinois Walks-Off Indiana in the Ninth, 5-4

Friday, May 25

Omaha, Neb.

8:30 p.m. ET

Indiana University

38-17

Illinois

33-19

Indiana

Illinois

5/26/2018 2:16:00 AM | Baseball

Box Score

OMAHA, Neb. – Despite having a two-run lead in the fifth inning, Indiana baseball (38-17) was walked off on by the Illinois Fighting Illini, dropping the game by a score of 5-4 in the bottom of the ninth. With the loss, the Hoosiers were eliminated from the Big Ten Tournament.

The Hoosiers got nine hits on the night, highlighted a by two-hit efforts from junior Logan Kaletha and freshman Cole Barr. Kaletha knocked out his eighth home run of the season, while senior Logan Sowers hit out his 10^th. Sophomore Andrew Saalfrank tossed 3.2 innings of scoreless relief.

Indiana got some good production out of the bottom of the order in the second. Sophomore Scotty Bradley led things off with a double and Barr followed with a single to put runners on second and third after he stole second. Junior Wyatt Cross hit a sacrifice fly and Kaletha came through with a clutch, two-out double to make it 2-0 Hoosiers early.

A one out triple by the Illini set up an RBI groundout for Ben Troike to cut the IU lead in half.

Sowers home run came on an 0-1 pitch that was crushed to give the Hoosiers a 3-1 lead in the top of the third.

Back-to-back walks spelled trouble for the Hoosiers in the bottom of the fifth. Big Ten Player of the Year Bren Spillane made IU pay with a three-run home run to give the Illini the lead.

Kaletha's strong two-out hitting continued in the top of the seventh. After a deep flyout and strikeout for the previous two hitters, Kaletha went opposite field on a 2-2 pitch to knot the game up at four.

Illinois got the leadoff hitter on base via an error in the bottom of the ninth. After the runner was bunted over, Ben Troike delivered the game-winning hit on an RBI double to walk it off for the Illini.

The Hoosiers will learn where they are heading for NCAA Regionals on Monday at noon.