Will Strack struggles with his jacket in the strong Friday wind before the game.
There was a fierce wind at Illinois Field Friday night. Unfortunately, Penn State took advantage of it and Illinois didn’t. The Nittany Lions cracked four homeruns and defeated the Illini 16-9.
It’s not that Illinois didn’t have the offense tonight. They managed 19 hits, even more than Penn State. But like we more efficient with our hitting against Chicago State two nights ago, so was Penn State tonight. They scored their 16 runs on 18 hits.
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Rough night for the bullpen (Brian de la Torriente, John Anderson, Wes Braun) |
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To be honest, our pitching was not quite up to par. Four times Penn State was able to put up a three spot in an inning. Will Strack lost his first game of the year tonight. He lasted only four innings after giving up seven runs. With the bullpen in charge, things didn’t get much better. Brian de la Torriente, John Anderson, and Wes Braun all gave up three runs each.
Cappetta heads for third in his 3 for 5 night
But like I said, Illinois hit. First and foremost, let’s talk about Pete Cappetta. Coming into the game with eight hits all year, Cappetta came through with three tonight including a double and two runs. I was glad to see this and am hoping this means Pete is out of his slump.
Aaron Johnson scored twice and drove in a run
Craig Lutes continued to hit the ball. He was 3 for 5 with 3 rbis. His two-run double keyed the four-run rally which brought the Illini within one run. Brandon Hohl is a hitting machine and I’m glad he’s not shy about showing that to Big Ten teams… he got four hits today
Finally, Josh Parr raped three hits scoring a run.
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For those that saw Mike Giller take a faceful of a foul tip in the seventh inning, it wasn’t pretty, was it?. Mike left the game holding a pack over his right eye area. There is good news though. Word has it that Mike is fine and will be ready to play.
Tomorrow is a 3:05pm game. It’s supposed to be rain in the morning but tapering off by noon. That field turf might come in handy.
You can see all the photos tonight I took at the photo gallery.