Michigan Bats Stay Hot in Doubleheader Split with Illinois

Sunday, May 2

Evanston, Ill.

11:30 AM CT

Michigan

20-11, 0

Illinois

15-15, 0

Illinois

Michigan

Christan Bullock (Michigan Photography)

Michigan Bats Stay Hot in Doubleheader Split with Illinois

5/2/2021 7:40:00 PM | Baseball

Box Score 1 Box Score 2

By: Kurt Svoboda

» Illinois took game one before Michigan won the nightcap.
» Ted Burton became the fifth U-M player to hit a grand slam with his charge in the first inning of the second game.
» Michigan hit five home runs in the first game.

Site: Evanston, Ill. (Miller Park)
Scores: Illinois 13, Michigan 7 (7 innings); Michigan 19, Illinois 4 (7 innings)
Records: U-M (21-11, 21-11 B1G), ILL (15-16, 15-16 B1G)
Next U-M Event: Friday, May 7 -- at Michigan State (East Lansing, Mich.), 6:35 p.m.

EVANSTON, Ill. -- For a second day in a row, the University of Michigan baseball team split a neutral-site doubleheader with Illinois Sunday (May 2) to cap a wild weekend that saw the teams combine for 19 home runs amidst 25-mph winds at Northwestern's Miller Park. The Illini won the opening game 13-7 in a scheduled seven-inning contest, while U-M claimed the nightcap 19-4 in a game ended after seven innings.

Similar to Saturday, when Illinois took the opening game and started the scoring in game two, the Fighting Illini capitalized on a pair of first-inning walks to take a 2-0 lead through a half-inning of game two. Michigan stormed back, batting around and scoring seven times thanks to Ted Burton's grand slam and a two-run blast from Christan Bullock. Burton became the fifth Michigan player to hit a grand slam this season.

Michigan extended its lead to 9-2 after two innings and 13-3 after five, following an RBI triple from Christian Molfetta, an RBI single from Clark Elliott and a run-scoring double from Jimmy Obertop.

The Wolverines put the game away in the sixth as Danny Zimmerman belted a two-run blast and Benjamin Sems connected for a bases-clearing triple in a six-run inning. That allowed Michigan to end the game early with this year's "run rule" ending doubleheader games early for margins greater than 10 after seven innings. Angelo Smith closed out the seventh inning to make a winner of Ben Dragani (3-2), who pitched well in holding Illinois to two runs in five relief innings.

Elliott had four of Michigan's 17 hits, while Molfetta had three. Burton was 2-for-2 with a pair of walks.

Michigan belted five home runs in the opening game, but Illinois was 7-for-14 with runners in scoring position while the Wolverines managed just a 1-of-7 mark as the Illini won 13-7.

Following a walk to start the game, Jackson Raper put Illinois on top with a wind-blown homer to left field. Molfetta answered that, leading off the bottom of the first with a line-drive homer to left.

Things turned ugly for Michigan in the fourth as Illinois scored three unearned runs following a pair of two-out walks, a fielding error, wild pitch and a bloop single that gave the Illini a 5-1 lead. Michigan answered loudly in the bottom of the frame.

Sems led off the bottom of the fourth inning by driving a 1-0 fastball high over the right-field wall, and Tito Flores followed by taking the first pitch he saw high over the wall in left-center for the team's second back-to-back jobs of the weekend. After a tough-luck double play ball, Bullock took a fastball down the line in left field and over the 326-feet marker for another solo shot and suddenly it was back to a one-run deficit.

Illinois reclaimed momentum in the top of the fifth as the Illini got into U-M's bullpen and tagged the Wolverines for five runs on five hits and an error to take a commanding 10-4 lead.

Michigan edged closer on a towering three-run homer from Obertop in the sixth inning, but the Wolverines ran out of time in the abbreviated game after Illinois scored three more times in the top of the seventh.

Next up for the Wolverines is a four-game series against rival Michigan State in East Lansing. The first game is scheduled for Friday (May 7) at 6:35 p.m. from the Spartans' McLane Stadium.