Feb. 24, 2007

Box Score

LAFAYETTE, La. - Illinois opened its 2007 season at Louisiana-Lafayette but was unable to keep up with the Ragin' Cajuns in dropping their third-straight season opener, 13-5. Freshman third baseman Brandon Wikoff was 2-for-4 with two RBI and a run, and Omar Kadir pitched two scoreless innings of relief.

"I'm disappointed that the two things that we're able to do indoors - pitching and hitting - we did a poor job of tonight," Illinois coach Dan Hartleb said. "We didn't make any adjustments on the mound or at the plate."

Illini starter Scott Shaw worked out of a jam in the bottom of the first inning, stranding the bases loaded full of Cajuns, but the second inning wasn't as kind to Shaw. He gave up back-to-back singles to lead off the frame before muffing a sacrifice bunt attempt, loading the bases once again. From there, the Cajuns strung together three consecutive singles to go along with a hit batter and a throwing error, taking a 6-0 lead after two innings.

UL (6-0) kept the carousel going in the third inning despite Illini sophomore Aaron Martin entering in relief. The Cajuns sent nine batters to the plate in the inning - the second-straight inning in which they batted around - tallying three hits, an Illini error, a walk and a hit batsman to take a 9-0 lead.

In the top of the fourth, Illinois (0-1) put together its best scoring chance to that point despite not collecting a hit. With two outs, Mike Rohde and Lars Davis both were hit by pitches and Shawn Roof drew a walk after being behind 1-2 in the count. On the first pitch to freshman third baseman Brandon Wikoff, the ball went behind Wikoff but bounced off the screen perfectly back to the catcher, who tossed it to pitcher Hunter Moody to tag out Mike Rohde at the plate and keep the Illini off the board.

The Cajuns scored one in the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the eighth, pulling out to a 13-0 lead before the Illini got on the board in the ninth. Freshman Mike Giller sent a sharp single up the middle to lead off the frame and freshman Joe Mercurio lined a double into left field. Roof walked and Wikoff drove in a pair with his single to right, advancing to second on an error by the catcher attempting to catch Mercurio trying to score When the third baseman threw away Hudson's grounder on the next play, Roof and Wikoff scored, and Hudson ended up on third base. Rookie Craig Lutes lifted a fly ball to center to bring in Hudson, cutting the deficit to 13-5.

"That was definitely a bright spot," Hartleb said. "I was very encouraged by our young guys in the ninth inning because a number of them came off the bench and they were excited to go up there and hit."

Because of impending inclement weather in Lafayette, Saturday's game has been moved up to a 10 a.m. start time. Sunday's game time remains at 10 a.m.