OMAHA, Neb. — Adam Cecere hit a home run and made a highlight catch, J.T. Marr added three hits and No. 8 seed Penn State beat top-seeded Illinois, 8-4, on Wednesday as the Illini suffered their eighth straight loss at the Big Ten Tournament.
Penn State (27-23), which advances to play the winner of the Michigan-Iowa matchup Thursday, became the first No. 8 seed to win a first-round game at the tournament since 2019.
Illinois was coming off a weekend series sweep at Purdue to help earn its first Big Ten championship since 2015. The Illini (33-18) now join No. 2 seed Nebraska in the consolation bracket, looking for the program’s first win in the tournament since May 25, 2018.
Nittany Lions Win!!! Penn State knocks off top-seed Illinois!@TravisLuensmann W, 5IP, 1R, 7K
— Penn State Baseball (@PennStateBASE) May 22, 2024
Cecere HR, 3 RBI
Jaconski 2H, 2B, 3R
Marr 3H, 2 RBI, R
Marsh 2H, 2B, 2 RBI
Steele 1IP, 0R#WeAre pic.twitter.com/ZDhQttono6
Marr singled in two runs with two outs in the fourth to reach 51 RBIs on the season and give Penn State a 3-0 lead.
Cecere sent a deep shot to center, with a runner on, to give Penn State a 5-1 lead in the sixth on his 16th home run of the season. He has homered in three of the last four games.
Distance: 419
— Big Ten Baseball (@B1Gbaseball) May 22, 2024
Exit velo: 106
We're taking another look at @AdamCecere's big @PennStateBASE blast. ⚡#B1GBaseball pic.twitter.com/ns8tWrRlxu
Illinois scored in the sixth and had two on base before an inning-ending double play ended the threat.
Penn State tacked on three runs in the eighth. Cecere lifted a sacrifice fly to left for his third RBI of the game, and Bobby Marsh added a two-run double down the line to make it 8-3.
Travis Luensmann struck out a pair in the first inning to reach 200 for his career at Penn State. He finished with seven strikeouts in five innings, while allowing just one run.
Penn State third baseman Bryce Molinaro hit a double to right-center to extend his hitting streak to 15 games.
