CHAMPAIGN — Throughout its frustrating start to the Big Ten season, the Michigan baseball team saw just about every bounce, break and call go its opponents’ way. But in the second inning of yesterday’s game against Illinois, the Wolverines’ fortunes finally took a positive turn.

Riding a four-run second-inning outburst, Michigan took home an 8-5 victory over first-place Illinois yesterday (9-3 Big Ten, 20-10 overall). Junior pitcher Derek Feldkamp shined in his second relief appearance of the year, pitching four shutout innings to close the door on the Illini. The crucial win earned the Wolverines a series split, which was a huge momentum boost going into their upcoming series at home against Ohio State.

“We’ve had a lot of things not going our way, but the kids kept battling and beat a really good team,” Michigan coach Rich Maloney said. “We earned a split — and it was earned — and (we) darn nearly took three of four. We’re on the cusp, and that was nice.”

Illinois had jumped out to an early lead thanks to a mammoth three-run blast by cleanup hitter Dusty Bensko, who planted the ball way over the left-centerfield fence.

But in the bottom of the second, Michigan struck back in unconventional fashion. With Wolverines on first and second and no outs, freshman Derek VanBuskirk hit what appeared to be a taylor-made double play ball to Illinois starting pitcher James Morris. But the lefty turned and fired the ball about 10 feet to the left of second base, and it sailed into centerfield, allowing Michigan junior Jeff Kunkel to score from second. Just like that, the tone for the inning was set.

Junior Leif Mahler came up next and hit another comebacker to the pitcher’s mound. It deflected off Morris and was scooped up by Illinois short stop Toby Gardenhire, who fired to second on a fielder’s choice. The play allowed junior Mike Schmidt to score, cutting the Illinois lead to 3-2.

After junior Alex Martin hit into a fielder’s choice of his own, sophomore Eric Rose laid down a perfect drag bunt, putting runners on first and second for senior Matt Butler. With two outs, Butler hit a slow bouncer to the left side of the infield and took off down the line, setting up what would have been a close play at first. But Gardenhire fired an errant throw wide of the bag, and Martin raced around third to score the tying run.

The Wolverines weren’t done. Junior Chris Getz hit one of his trademark choppers up the middle, and Gardenhire appeared to have a play on it. But his sliding attempt came up short, and Rose scored, giving Michigan the 4-3 advantage.

“I said ‘Finally!’ ” Maloney said. “Have you seen that many breaks come our way? Today, we took advantage of those (errors), and that was huge. They gave us the little window, and, for once, we were able to cash in on it.”

After the Wolverines put up another run in the fifth, Illinois scored two runs off Michigan starter Drew Taylor to even it up at five. But another Illini fielding mistake would put Michigan back in the driver’s seat.

Leading off the seventh, Getz hit an innocent bouncer at Illinois second baseman J.R. Kyes. But the ball took a strange hop, hit Kyes in the chest and rolled onto the dirt. With the speedy Getz racing down the line, Kyes didn’t have a play. Illinois reliever Jake Toohey followed with two straight walks, advancing Getz to third. Schmidt followed with a liner to center, scoring Getz and giving Michigan a 6-5 lead.

The margin was safe with Feldkamp on the hill. The fireballing righty had been struggling with his control, beaning a total of seven batters in starts against Iowa and Minnesota. And he struggled in Friday’s game, picking up the loss in relief.

But Feldkamp was nothing short of spectacular. He consistently got ahead of Illini hitters, keeping them off balance with his hard fastball and sharp breaking pitch. During Feldkamp’s four innings, no Illinois runners advanced past first base.

“(Feldkamp) was outstanding, simply outstanding,” Maloney said. “He gave us a lift when we had to have this. We couldn’t afford another game where relief wouldn’t have finished the job — for our psyche. For Derek to give us the lift he did was huge.”

Michigan’s two victories in Champaign were particularly impressive given the way the series began. On Friday, the Wolverines took a 3-1 lead into the eighth but gave up three runs and lost, 4-3. Michigan responded with a 6-1 victory on the first game of Saturday’s doubleheader but dropped the nightcap, 4-1.