OMAHA, Neb. — For Illinois baseball to have a shot at making it back to Omaha next month, Dan Hartleb knew his team would likely need to win at least once there this weekend.
Consider it done.
Illinois (32-18, 16-9 Big Ten) plowed its way to a 7-1 victory over Indiana (37-16, 14-9) shortly after midnight Thursday in the opening round of the Big Ten tournament at TD Ameritrade Park.
"This may be the first time in my career that we start (a game) on Wednesday and win on Thursday," Illinois coach Dan Hartleb joked after the game, which tossed out its first pitch at 9:35 p.