OMAHA, Neb. — Illinois faced an uphill climb at the Big Ten tournament simply by being the No. 11 seed.
The Big Ten moving from double elimination to pool play with an expanded 12-team tournament field (out of 17 total teams) gave the lowest-seeded among them exactly no favors. Zero leeway to do anything but win out in pool play with a potential three-way tie simply sending the highest seed on to the semifinal round.
It took fending off a late rally from Michigan in Tuesday’s tournament opener, but Illinois found a way to keep its season alive with a 6-5 victory against the Wolverines in 10 innings at Charles Schwab Field Omaha.
“Obviously, we put ourselves in a poor position from a seeding standpoint, and it’s do or die every day,” Illinois coach Dan Hartleb told reporters. “We found a way to get it done. We’ll enjoy this for a little while and move forward.
“Really proud of our guys. Thought we played well in a lot of areas. We made a few little mistakes that could have cost us the game, but these guys stuck together and came up with some big, big pitches. Then (Jacob Schroeder) hits the big home run.”
Anything but a win against Michigan would have meant the end of the Illini’s season. Sure, they would have played out the string in Omaha, but the 10 a.m. Wednesday game with co-Big Ten champion UCLA would have been meaningless.
No chance to advance to the semifinals.
No hope to bolster a weak NCAA tournament résumé with a weekend run at a tournament title.
Jacob Schroeder’s two-out solo home run in the top of the 10th inning Tuesday against Michigan at least gave his team a chance to do both.
But not without some late-inning drama.
Illinois watched its 5-2 lead disappear in the bottom of the eighth inning with home runs from the Wolverines’ Mitch Voit and Noah Miller. Then they had to escape bases-loaded trouble in the bottom of the ninth as Michigan tried to close out its comeback. But Schroeder’s two-out solo home run just over the left-center field wall in the top of the 10th inning and a 1-2-3 effort from left-handed reliever Zach Bates in the bottom half kept Illinois’ hopes alive in Omaha.
“I was 0-fer going into that at bat, but I was just trying to extend the inning,” said Schroeder, who earned All-Big Ten Third Team and All-Big Ten Defensive Team honors earlier Tuesday. “My approach was just to hit a line drive right at the second baseman,” Schroeder said. “I looked at (Michigan pitcher Will Rogers) before the pitch and told myself stay on top of a heater. He happened to hang a slider, and I put a good swing on it.”
Bates made the one-run lead stand up in the bottom of the 10th inning and wound up with the win in relief. The 6-foot-2 sophomore, who was also an All-Big Ten Third Team selection, walked one and struck out one in 1 2/3 innings.
That left Tyler Schmitt with only a quality start. But the junior right-hander earned it. Staked with a 3-0 lead before stepping on the mound, Schmitt gave up two runs on six hits and one walk and struck out nine in seven innings.
Not bad for a Big Ten tournament debut for the former Wisconsin-La Crosse ace.
“From the jump when we got to the field I took it in,” Schmitt said. “I’ve never been here before, but this is what I train for. These venues and playing on these stages. Credit the leaders on our team. (Coltin Quagliano) and (Schroeder) are very good at calming us down and setting the tone. They did a good job of settling us in. I’m really proud of what we did.”
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