CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Fighting Illini came up short against the defending national champion Vanderbilt Commodores on Monday, suffering a 4-2 loss to end their historic season in the program's first-ever Super Regional. Illinois led 2-1 after three innings, but Vanderbilt scored a run in the fourth, sixth and seventh to advance to the College World Series.
In his second start of the season, junior
Tyler Jay (5-2) struck out six over 6.1 innings, allowing four runs and 10 hits. He did not surrender a walk, throwing 96 pitches with 70 for strikes. Junior
Nick Blackburn recorded 1.2 scoreless innings of relief with a pair of strikeouts.
Junior
Ryan Nagle, who went 3-for-5 with a run, got things going for the Illini in the top of the first, poking a one-out single and scoring on a sacrifice fly by senior
Casey Fletcher after Vanderbilt starter Philip Pfeifer walked the bases loaded.
After Jay posted a 1-2-3 first on 10 pitches, Zander Wiel tied it up 1-1 with a leadoff homer to right in the second.
Sophomore
Pat McInerney came up clutch in the third with a two-out RBI single to center that plated Fletcher, who doubled with two outs.
Dansby Swanson led off the bottom of the fourth with a game-tying solo shot to left, evening it at two apiece. Swanson scored the go-ahead run in the sixth on Bryan Reynold's two-out RBI single to center in the sixth.
Nagle connected on his third hit with a two-out double in the seventh but was left at second. Vanderbilt tacked on an insurance run with a squeeze bunt in the seventh to make it 4-2.
Illinois had the bases loaded with one out in the eighth after a walk to senior
David Kerian, but a fly out and strikeout ended the threat. The Illini went down in order in the ninth.
2015 Fighting Illini Baseball Highlights• Illinois won its first-ever NCAA Regional, going 3-0 while hosting the first NCAA Champaign Regional at Illinois Field.
• The Illini played in the Super Regional for the first time in school history.
• The Fighting Illini won their 30th Big Ten Championship in 2015, which ranks second all-time in conference history behind Michigan (35).
• Illinois (50-10-1) set the school record with 50 victories, breaking the school record of 49 wins from 1982.
• Illinois was one of two Big Ten teams (Maryland) to reach a Super Regional. Big Ten schools have advanced to a Super Regional seven times since the NCAA Tournament format was changed in 1999.
• Illinois was 25-4 at home in 2015, marking the most wins and best record at Illinois Field.
• Illinois earned the No. 6 overall seed in the 2015 NCAA Baseball Championship, becoming the second Big Ten team in conference history to earn a national seed. Indiana was No. 4 overall in 2014.
• UI was one of a conference-record five Big Ten teams (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan) that qualified for an NCAA Regional.
• Illinois swept the top three Big Ten individual awards for the first time in school history:
David Kerian (Player of the Year),
Tyler Jay (Pitcher of the Year) and
Dan Hartleb (Coach of the Year).
• Illinois posted a Big Ten record 27-game winning streak from March 30-May 20, which is the longest winning streak in the country in 2015. The Illini finished seven shy of the NCAA record winning streak of 34: Texas (1977) and Florida Atlantic (1999).
• The 2015 Illini pitching staff (2.55 ERA) shattered the school's ERA record (3.25) from last season. The 2015 Illini (449 K) also broke the school record for strikeouts from 1998 (419 K).
• Illinois was the No. 1 seed in the Big Ten Tournament for the fourth time in program history (1998, 2005, 2011, 2015).
• The Illini won their first conference title since 2011 (shared with Michigan State) and first outright title since 2005.
• UI won a Big Ten record 20 straight conference contests and became the first Big Ten team to ever record seven straight conference series sweeps.
• The 2015 Fighting Illini finished in first place at 21-1 overall, equaling the 2014 Indiana Hoosiers (21-3) for the most wins during a 24-game Big Ten season (began in 2009).
• Illinois was ranked No. 2 in the Collegiate Baseball poll for the third time (May 11, 18 and June 2), which marked the highest ranking in program history.
• UI was a consensus Top 5 team in every poll for the fourth consecutive week, checking in at No. 2 by Collegiate Baseball, No. 3 by Perfect Game and the NCBWA, No. 4 by Baseball America and No. 5 in the USA TODAY Coaches Poll and on D1Baseball.com. It was the seventh straight week the Illini are ranked in the Top 10.
