CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Two weeks ago, after dropping five of their first six Big Ten games, Illinois looked dead in the water.
But after the Illini clinched a weekend sweep over Penn State with a 4-2 win on Sunday afternoon at Illinois Field, Illinois (25-13, 6-6 Big Ten) is back to .500 and primed to make a late-season run toward the NCAA Tournament. A solid start from Cyrillo Watson and timely hitting from Illinois’ stars helped the Illini secure their 14th win in their last 15 games against Penn State.
As was the case with the two opening conference series against Iowa and Maryland, the Illini struggled all weekend to put away the Nittany Lion (17-18, 1-13 Big Ten).