ST. LOUIS -- Illinois started its 139th season of baseball Sunday with a doubleheader split of South Dakota State and Austin Peay at Saint Louis University. The Illini began the day with a 5-2 win over South Dakota State before dropping the nightcap to Austin Peay 2-0.
Illinois (1-1) got great pitching all day, allowing only four runs in 17 innings. Andy Fisher (S, 4.0 IP, 0 R) in Game 1 and Quinn Snarkis in Game 2 (3.1 IP, 0 R) were the bright spots out of the bullpen.
Ben Troike led the offense with three hits on the day.
Game 1 - Illinois 5, South Dakota State 2
Illinois opened the day with a 5-2 win over South Dakota State behind a two-hit, three-RBI effort from Ben Troike and a four-inning save by Andy Fisher. Troike started the scoring in the second inning with a two-out, two-strike bases-clearing single and Illinois never looked back.
Doran Turchin added a solo homer and Ryan Haff drove in an insurance run on a squeeze play, as six Illini combined for seven hits.
Sean Leland (1-0) picked up his first win in an Illinois uniform after getting one out in the fifth to work the Illini out of a jam. Fisher did the rest of the work, as the two newcomers combined to go 4 1/3 innings without allowing a run. Ty Weber pitched the first 4 2/3, allowing two runs on four hits.
Game 2 - Austin Peay 2, Illinois 0
Austin Peay's Brandon Vial shut out Illinois for the first 7 1/3 innings of Sunday's second game. Illinois had five hits and went 0-11 with runners on base.
The Illini pitched well with Cyrillo Watson (4.0 IP, 2 R) and Quinn Snarskis (3.1 IP, 0 R) combining to go 7 1/3 strong innings, but the bats never came around.
Up Next
Illinois faces Coastal Carolina (twice), West Virginia and VCU next weekend in Conway, South Carolina.
