Wolverines Drop Series Finale at Illinois

Sunday, April 2

Champaign, Ill.

1:30 PM CT

Michigan

15-12, 0

Illinois

12-12, 0

Michigan

Illinois

(Michigan Photography)

4/2/2023 6:11:00 PM | Baseball

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By: Conor Stemme

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. -- The University of Michigan baseball team suffered their first conference loss of the season, falling 11-1 to Illinois on Sunday (April 2) at Illinois Field in the finale of their three game series.

The Wolverines (15-12, 5-1 Big Ten) found themselves down early and were unable to rally as the Fighting Illini (12-12, 2-4 Big Ten) scored a pair in the second inning to grab a 2-0 lead on a solo home run to left and an RBI double.

Walker Cleveland started the game on the mound, but lasted 1.1 innings before being replaced by Jake Keaser, who allowed two home runs in the third and Ryan Zimmer was summoned from the bullpen. Zimmer walked two but got one out before Ahmad Harajli entered the game and recorded the final out of the inning with U-M trailing 6-0.

The Wolverines got their first and only run of the game on the fourth inning. Jack Van Remortel singled to left, scoring Ted Burton, but Van Remortel was thrown out at second trying to stretch it to a double. Harajli walked the leadoff batter in the bottom of the frame and Jacob Denner came on in relief. He got the first batter to fly out, then got out of the inning with 6-4-3 double play.

U-M continued its struggles at the plate. Mitch Voit was hit by a pitch in the top of the fifth, but was erased on a fielder's choice and turned out to be the Wolverines' lone baserunner between the fifth and eight innings. However, Illinois added another run in its half of the fifth on a two-run home run off Denner to increase its lead to 8-1.

Denner and John Torroella combined to strike out the side in the bottom of the sixth to keep the Wolverines alive, but Illinois scored a run in the seventh and two more in the eighth to take an 11-1 lead and put it out of reach.

The Wolverines will return to Ann Arbor to kick off a four-game homestand with a midweek contest against Western Michigan on Tuesday (April 4) at 4 p.m. at the Wilpon Complex, home of Ray Fisher Stadium.