Ben Reeser (Courtesy of Illinois Media Relations)
There was two substantial upsets on Sunday with Illinois knocking off LSU for the second time on the weekend and Oral Roberts picking up a victory over Rice. The Illinois squad picked up a great pitching performance from senior RHP Ben Reeser who pitched 8.2 shutout innings against the number 1 ranked LSU Tigers as Illinois won the rubber game 6-2. Oral Roberts used a ninth inning double by Kyle Price to break a 3-3 tie against Rice and eventually walk away with a 5-3 victory over Rice.
Illinois 6 #1 LSU 2
BATON ROUGE, La. – Senior starting pitcher Ben Reeser had the start of a lifetime, tossing 8 2/3 innings of shutout ball before giving up two runs in the ninth and striking out a career-high nine LSU Tigers, to lift Illinois (7-2) to a series victory over No. 1 LSU with a 6-2 win in front of 9,344 fans at Alex Box Stadium. Catcher Aaron Johnson went 3-for-4 with a run and designated hitter Casey McMurray was 2-for-5 with two RBIs and a stolen base as the Orange and Blue registered their second win over the top-ranked Tigers (10-2) in three days.
The victory marks the first series win over a top-five team since Illinois took two-of-three games at No. 3 Houston in 2000. And the Illini will go down in Alex Box Stadium history as the first team to both win a game and a series against the Tigers in their brand-new digs.
Oral Roberts 5 #8 Rice 3
HOUSTON – Kyle Price broke a 3-3 tie in the top of the ninth with an RBI double to give ORU the go-ahead run in a 5-3 victory over No. 7 Rice on Sunday at the Academy Sports + Outdoors Rice Classic at Reckling Park. The Golden Eagles improved to 7-2 overall, while the Owls dropped to 8-4 on the season.
ORU defeated its highest ranked opponent since defeating No. 7 Arkansas on March 27, 2007.
Michael Notaro led off the ninth with a double down the right field line off of Rice reliever Jordan Rogers. Colby Price (Brenham, Texas) bunted pinch runner Nikko Wong over to second, and Wong then advanced to third on a wild pitch.
