March 13, 2006

Box Score

SAN ANTONIO, Texas - Illinois' offense went up against one of the best pitching staffs it had seen to this point in the season and it showed, as Texas A&M scattered seven hits on its way to an 11-1 win in both teams' final game of the Baseball Express Collegiate Classic. Mike Rohde and Trevor Huisinga led the Illini offense, each going 2-for-4. The day capped a solid tournament for Huisinga, who hit .417 (5-for-12) with four runs and two RBIs while reaching base at a .563 clip. Illinois finished the tournament 1-3 with a win over Louisiana-Lafayette.

"Trevor did a better job this week of hitting and drew some walks, a couple of things he's struggled with to this point," Illinois coach Dan Hartleb said. "But we need consistency out of all of our players. We've got some guys who play well for one game, but we need to get better plate appearances."

Texas A&M jumped on top early, scoring twice in the first inning on two hits and two hit batters. The Aggies then added a run in the top of the second with a double and an RBI single. Illinois looked to fight back in the second when catcher Lars Davis reached on a fielding error by the second baseman and, one out later, first baseman Dave Schultz and shortstop Shawn Roof drew walks to load the bases. But the Illini couldn't get the big hit, leaving the bases loaded to fall behind 3-0 after two innings.

Illinois got on the board in the fourth when leftfielder Ryan Snowden led off with a ground-rule double to center field. Schultz moved him to third with a groundout, and Roof drove him in with another groundout, cutting the A&M lead to 3-1.

But the Aggies responded with two more in the fifth off three hits and two walks to extend their margin to 5-1. A&M added another run in the sixth, four more in the eighth and a final run in the ninth to reach the final margin of 11-1.

"I was disappointed with our mental approach to the game," Hartleb said. "Texas A&M is a team we should be able to play on the same level with. Our pitching wasn't sharp the first couple of innings, but we were only down three runs and I didn't think our hitters stayed with the things we've been doing all year."

The Illini pitchers struggled from the start as starter Jake Toohey allowed five earned runs on eight hits, three walks and two hit batters in five innings. The bullpen gave up six earned runs on eight hits over four innings.

Illinois has the rest of the week off before traveling to Bradenton, Fla., for its annual Spring Trip. The Illini open the trip with a game against Northern Iowa on March 18 at 3 p.m., at Ed Smith Stadium, the spring training home of the Cincinnati Reds.