The Orange and Blue World Series came down to the final game tied with each team having two wins.

Sophomore catcher Chris Robinson and senior outfielder Vince DiMaria stepped up in the final game to lead the Blue squad to a series win. Robinson batted 3-for-3 while DiMaria continued his series success batting 2-for-3.

"DiMaria, I think every time he comes up he was a threat at the plate," junior pitcher Jeff Paarlberg said.

Paarlberg pitched for the Orange squad that won games No. 2 and 4. The Blue squad won games No. 1, 5 and 6.

The third game ended in a 4-4 tie after both squad's pitchers were used up.

Accompanying DiMaria's 6-for-14 series, the Blue squad's redshirt freshman outfielder Jim Sharwarko went 7-for-13 through the first five games of the series.

"I was seeing the ball real well," Sharwarko said. "I'm just keeping my hands in and stuff I've been working on just came together this week."

By being on the Blue squad, Sharwarko avoided the pitching of Series teammate freshman Brandon Murphy.

Murphy mowed through the Orange squad, opening with five hitless innings.

Pitching six innings between games two and five of the series, Murphy ended with eight strike outs, allowing only one hit and no runs.

"I thought Murphy, for a freshman and knowing what freshmen are going through, competed with those kids," said Illinois head coach Itch Jones.

Paarlberg ended as the ace pitcher of the Orange squad by pitching three innings in game No. 1 and three innings in game No. 4.

"I felt comfortable how I was pitching," Paarlberg said. "By the end, I felt I was throwing pretty well."

Despite four players recording hits against Paarlberg, none of them came across home plate to score. Paarlberg struck out six players and allowed only one walk.

"Paarlberg looked like he improved a lot in the fall," Jones said.

The only two home runs of the series came from the Orange squad. Freshman Jeff Meyer hit a two-run homer during game No. 2 to lead the Orange squad to a 2-1 win. During game No. 5, junior shortstop Mike Geraldi hit a one-run home run, but the Orange squad still lost 2-1.

"We were just glad we had good weather and we got our fall ball in," Jones said. "Now we've got to concentrate on our individual workouts and work (at) trying to improve each person and get ourself in a position to compete."