CHAMPAIGN — Illinois has found itself in 18 games decided by two runs or fewer this season. Eleven of them have been losses.
Last year’s team — stacked with veteran players — found ways to win a higher percentage of those games. That’s how a 50-win season, happens.
This year’s team is less experienced. Fourteen newcomers make up nearly half the roster. Thirteen are freshmen.
The 14th, junior-college transfer third baseman Trent Hammond, made sure Friday night’s game against Saint Louis at Illinois Field turned out in the Illini’s favor.
Hammond went 2 for 3 with a fifth-inning home run that cut Illinois’ deficit to two and a two-run single in the eighth that secured a 6-4 victory.