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From Mirror reports
OMAHA, Neb. -- The Penn State baseball team earned an 8-4 win over top-seed Illinois on Wednesday in its Big Ten Tournament Opener at Charles Schwab Field.
The Nittany Lions got five strong innings from Travis Luensmann and key hits from Adam Cecere, J.T. Marr and Bobby Marsh. Penn State improved to 27-23 overall, while Illinois dropped to 33-18.
The Nittany Lions will meet Michigan tonight at 7 p.m. on Big Ten Network.
Penn State improved to 5-2 all-time against No. 1 seeds in the Big Ten Tournament.
A Bellwood-Antis graduate, Luensmann got the start for the Nittany Lions, working five innings to pick up his seventh win of the year. He allowed one run on four hits. He struck out seven batters and walked two.
Luensmann did not allow a run until the fifth inning. He recorded multiple strikeouts in the first and third innings.
Luensmann's second strikeout in the first was his 200th strikeout at Penn State. He also surpassed the 200 innings mark at Penn State.
Mason Horwat went three innings, giving up three runs on six hits. Anthony Steele closed the game with a scoreless ninth, including a strikeout.
Penn State totaled 14 hits. Cecere launched a two-run homer and drove in three runs. Marr notched three hits and two RBI, collecting his 28th multi-hit game and 16th multi-RBI game of the season. Marsh had a two-run double among two hits. Joe Jaconski registered two hits, including a double, and scored three times.
With his 16th home run of the season, Cecere, a Forest Hills graduate, moved into a tie for third in a season at Penn State, matching Dan Beers in 1998. He is one homer behind Dave Simononis (17; 1978) for second and three behind Ben Heath (19; 2010) for the PSU record.
Colton Quagliano led Illinois with three hits, including an RBI double. Brody Harding and Drake Westcott each had two hits.