Rogers pitches Michigan to 4-2 victory over top-seeded Illinois for spot in Big Ten semifinal
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Will Rogers finished one out shy of a complete game to lead No. 4 seed Michigan to a 4-2 victory over top-seeded Illinois on Friday night for a berth in the Big Ten Tournament semifinals.
Michigan (32-27) will play No. 8 seed Penn State the semifinals Saturday and will have to beat the Nittany Lions twice to advance to Sunday’s championship game. Penn State beat Michigan 9-5 on Thursday. Nebraska and Indiana square off in the first semifinal with the Cornhuskers needing two wins over the Hoosiers to advance.
The Wolverines grabbed a 1-0 lead in the top of the third inning after No. 9 batter Brock Leitgeb led off with a walk and scored on a single by Stephen Hrustich.
Michigan led 2-0 in the fifth after Mitch Voit tripled and scored on a double by Hrustich.
Caruso and Rogers had back-to-back doubles leading off the eighth inning to make it 3-0 and the Wolverines’ final run came on Voit’s solo home run in the ninth.
Rogers took a shutout into the ninth before running into trouble. He sandwiched a pair of fly outs around a walk to Connor Milton, but Camden Janik tripled in a run and scored on a Drake Westcott single to end his night. Dylan Vique induced a ground out from the first batter he faced to finish off the victory with his first save of the season.
Rogers (2-4) yielded two runs on three hits and two walks, striking out nine.
Payton Hutchings was saddled with the loss for the Fighting Illini (34-19). He pitched 4 1/3 innings, surrendering two runs on three hits and five walks.
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