Michigan eliminates Illinois from Big Ten baseball tournament

Michigan eliminates Illinois from Big Ten baseball tournament

Illinois' David Kerian celebrates a home run against Michigan during the sixth inning of the teams' Big Ten tournament college baseball game Saturday in Minneapolis. Michigan won 5-3 to advance to the championship game.

 (Hannah Foslien, AP)

MINNEAPOLIS — Jacob Cronenworth had three hits, drove in three runs and earned his seventh save to help Michigan beat Illinois 5-3 on Saturday to advance to the Big Ten championship game.

Third-seeded Michigan (36-23) will face fourth-seeded Maryland on Sunday. The Terrapins (39-20) beat Indiana 4-2 on Saturday.

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Trailing 3-2, the Wolverines were aided by two Illinois errors to load the bases with no outs in the sixth. Johnny Slater was hit by a pitch, a run scored on a double play and Cronenworth slid headfirst into first base for an RBI infield single. Cronenworth had a two-run single in the second.

David Kerian hit his team-leading 14th home run in the top of the sixth for Illinois (47-8-1).

Rob McDonne 11 (7-2) took the loss, allowing five unearned runs in five innings.

Bryan Pall (2-0) pitched 2-2/3 innings of one-hit relief for the win. Cronenworth pitched the final 1-2/3 innings.

Chicago Tribune