March 11, 2005

Box Score

Arlington, Texas - Illinois struggled to group hits and grounded into three double plays as it fell 5-1 at Texas-Arlington. The Illini never strung together more than three hits in an inning and starter Brian Blomquist wasn't as sharp as he had been in his two previous starts as Illinois dropped the first game of a three-game series with the Mavericks.

"We played well defensively and our pitching was OK," said Illini coach Richard "Itch" Jones. "But we didn't get him any runs."

Illinois fell behind 2-0, giving up a run in each of the first two innings even though it had scoring opportunities in both frames. Centerfielder Ryan Rogowski beat out an infield single then stole second with one out in the first. He moved to third on Chris Robinson's flyout to right field and first baseman Dusty Bensko walked, but designated hitter Mike Rohde struck out to end the inning. Third baseman Chad Frk doubled to right-center field to lead off the second, but was thrown out on a ground ball to the shortstop and the Illini failed to score.

"We made some baserunning mistakes early that were costly and kept us from getting anything started," Jones said.

Texas-Arlington added two more in the fourth and another run in the seventh off Blomquist, who struggled in spots as Maverick hits found holes. Blomquist went seven innings, allowing five runs on nine hits.

Illinois' best opportunity was in the fifth, with the bases loaded and no outs after two singles and a walk by Ryan Hastings, J.R. Kyes and Toby Gardenhire. But the Illini couldn't put a run across, coming up with a flyout to center field and a double play to end the inning and leave the UTA lead at 4-0.

"They got some clutch hits and we weren't able to get our runners home," Jones said.

The Illini got on the board when Huisinga doubled to right field with one out in the eighth, moved to third on Rogowski's flyout and scored on Robinson's single to right, cutting the UTA lead to 5-1.

Illinois returns to action in game two of the series tomorrow at 3 p.m.