FT. MYERS, Fla. – The Illinois baseball team ended its three-game winning streak Sunday afternoon with a 3-2 loss in the series finale at Florida Gulf Coast. The Fighting Illini were limited to four hits after winning the first two games of the series Friday and Saturday.
"It was a productive weekend and, at the same time, I think we can be better," said senior catcher Jason Goldstein. "The offense did ok this weekend – we got guys on base and hit balls hard – but we have to get a better mentality. We need to score more runs and put teams away early."
Goldstein and junior right fielder Pat McInerney produced runs with RBI groundouts and freshman center fielder Doran Turchin had two hits. Illinois had 22 hits in the first two victories of the series before going cold today.
Andrew Mamlic (0-1) took the loss after running into trouble in the sixth inning. FGCU plated two runs in the sixth to turn a one-run deficit into a one-run lead and force Mamlic out of the game after allowing three runs on seven hits over 5.0 innings pitched.
J.D. Nielsen shut down FGCU over 2.1 innings, which included five strikeouts, and Cole Bellair got two outs in two batters faced to keep the Illini within striking distance. The five strikeouts tied a career high for the 6-foot-6 Nielsen.
"They battled," Goldstein said of the pitching staff. "Mamlic struggled a little bit but still got us through five innings and our bullpen was fantastic all weekend."
Illinois (3-3) put the tying run on second and the go-ahead run on first base in the ninth inning, but a line drive off the bat of pinch-hitter Dan Rowbottom was caught by FGCU's leaping second baseman Jake Noll. Off the bat it looked like the ball could get to the gap in right center before Noll got a glove on it to end the game.
Florida Gulf Coast (2-5) was led by Colton Bottomly, Tyler Atwell and Nick Blasucci, who each had two hits. Blasucci hit a double with two outs in the sixth inning to score what stood as the game-winning run.
Mario Leon limited the Illini to two runs on one hit in the first 5.1 innings on the mound and Ryan Lang (2-0) earned the win by shutting out Illinois in the final 3.2 innings.
The Fighting Illini return to Florida next weekend for three games in DeLand, Florida, at the home of Stetson. Illinois will face Central Michigan, the host Hatters and Villanova on consecutive days Friday-Sunday.
