CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (Interstat) — Olivier Martel struck out three in 1 1/3 scoreless innings of relief and Collin Jennings drove in three runs with a home run as Illinois defeated Bradley 10-2 on Wednesday at Illinois Field.

The Fighting Illini improved to 23-23, while the Braves fell to 9-40.

Illinois broke open a tight game with a five-run fifth inning, turning a 2-0 deficit into a 5-2 lead. Bradley had taken the early lead on a solo home run by AJ Garcia in the top of the second, his second hit of the game. Garcia finished 3-for-4 with a home run, a triple and two RBIs.

The Illinois rally began with a hit-by-pitch to D Contreras. C Crafton singled to right, moving Contreras to third. J Nelson doubled down the right-field line to score Contreras. N Groves then reached on a fielder’s choice to the pitcher, plating Crafton and moving Nelson to third. Michael Farina grounded out to shortstop, driving in Nelson. J Zebig tripled down the right-field line, scoring Groves. After a pitching change, A Putty hit a sacrifice fly to left, scoring Zebig.

Bradley cut the lead to 5-3 in the top of the sixth. Hayden Mille doubled to center, advanced to third on a fly out, and scored on Garcia’s triple to right center. Garcia was then caught stealing at home.

Illinois put the game away with a four-run seventh. N Groves singled and advanced to second on a passed ball. Farina singled to right center, scoring Groves. After a strikeout and a stolen base, Farina advanced to third on a wild pitch. K Schupmann walked and stole second. Jennings then homered to right field, scoring Schupmann and Farina to make it 9-2.

Illinois added another run in the eighth. C Crafton singled, pinch-runner B Mazzacano stole second and third, and Farina singled to center to drive him in.

Ike Young started for Illinois and pitched three innings, allowing two hits, one earned run and striking out five. Sam Reed followed with two innings of one-hit, scoreless relief. Martel, who entered in the eighth, struck out the side. L Weber faced one batter before giving way to Martel.

Eli Lehrman started for Bradley and threw three scoreless innings, allowing no hits and striking out two. Gavin Thompson pitched 1 2/3 scoreless innings with one strikeout. Lou Levy, Drew Politte, Luke Leverto, Jack Horras and Andre Vidal also appeared on the mound for Bradley. Horras faced one batter without recording an out. Vidal retired the only batter he faced on a strikeout.

Farina went 2-for-5 with three RBIs for Illinois. Jennings was 1-for-4 with three RBIs. J Nelson had a double and an RBI. The Fighting Illini collected 10 hits.

Garcia had three of Bradley’s six hits. Landon Lowe doubled and Hayden Mille doubled for the Braves, who struck out 15 times.

Bradley scored its first run in the second inning when Garcia hit his home run to right field. The Braves got a double from Lowe in the first but left him stranded. Bradley had runners on base in the third, fourth and seventh but could not score outside of Garcia’s contributions.

Illinois went quietly through the first three innings, managing only a walk and a single. Lehrman retired the first nine batters he faced, including three strikeouts, before giving way to Levy in the fourth.

The win gave Illinois a two-game winning streak after a series loss at Iowa last weekend. Bradley lost for the sixth time in seven games, with its lone win in that span coming at Belmont last Friday.

Interstat’s game simulator had projected a final score of Illinois 3, Bradley 1, and Interstat’s ELO system gave Illinois an 83.60 percent probability to win.