BEAUMONT, Texas -- Three Illinois freshmen pitchers combined to allow only two runs in 9 1/3 innings Sunday before the Illini lost to Lamar 2-1 on a walk-off wild pitch in the tenth inning. Illinois lost for the third straight time after winning the season opener Friday.
"It's early but there's obviously some disappointment in my mind," said head coach Dan Hartleb. "But I like our players, I like our abilities. I wish we had a game tomorrow but we'll have to go back and work on some stuff before next weekend."
Freshman Ty Weber went 4 2/3 innings in his first career start, while allowing two hits, five walks and striking out three. He walked two of the first four batters of the game, but settled in to work into the fifth inning. Freshman Cyrillo Watson went the next three innings and allowed one run on two hits before Freshman Zack Jones was tagged with the loss.
In the tenth, Jones (0-1) allowed a double to Lamar's No. 3 hitter Trey Silvers and then issued a one-out intentional walk to Reid Russell to set up the winning rally. Sophomore right-hander Joey Gerber entered the game and allowed an infield single to Robin Adames to load the bases on a ball that dribbled inside the third base line. A fielder's choice grounded to third base forced a runner out at home and kept the bases loaded with two outs, but Gerber delivered a wild pitch to the next batter that scored the winning run.
Illinois (1-3) took a 1-0 lead in the eighth inning when redshirt junior Dan Rowbottom hit an infield single to shortstop to score sophomore Jack Yalowitz, who had singled. Lamar quickly answered with one run in the bottom of the eighth.
Yalowitz had two hits, his third multi-hit game of the four-game weekend. He led the Illini with six hits and four RBIs in the season's first four games. Freshman Michael Massey added five hits on the weekend and is riding a four-game hitting streak.
The Illini's pitching staff held opponents to a .238 batting average in four games, but averaged 7.0 walks per game.
The Fighting Illini head to Corpus Christi, Texas, next weekend for a three-game round robin tournament with Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Houston and Missouri. The event is hosted at Whataburger Field.
