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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 for the Illini's eighth straight loss at the Big Ten Tournament. 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. Penn State (27-23), which advances to play the winner of the Michigan-Iowa matchup on Thursday, became the first No. 8 seed to win a first-round game at the tournament since 2019. Cecere sent a deep shot to center to give Penn State a 5-1 lead.
