CONWAY, S.C. -- The Illinois baseball team finished its weekend Sunday at Coastal Carolina with a 7-4 win over VCU. Seven relievers combined to go 6 1/3 innings to carry the Illini to their second win in 24 hours.
"I wouldn't say we played particularly well," said head coach Dan Hartleb. "We made pitches when we had to and came up with clutch hits. We had to piece things together a little bit."
Illinois (3-3) got back to .500 overall by leading nearly the entire way despite being outhit 11-8. Zac Taylor sparked the offense, getting the Illini's first two hits and scoring both times to give Illinois a 3-1 lead after three innings. Taylor led off the game with a single and came around to score on a ground out, before hitting a two-run home run to start a four-run third inning.
Virginia Commonwealth (3-4) stranded 16 runners on base, including eight in the first three innings. Illini starting pitcher Cyrillo Watson allowed six singles and three walks, lasting 2 2/3 innings before turning it over to the bullpen. No Illini reliever threw more than 1 1/3 innings.
The Rams tallied single runs in the seventh and eighth to chip away at the Illini lead, before Doran Turchin blasted a two-out, two-run opposite field homer to give Illinois a 7-3 lead in the eighth.
"Doran Turchin's hit was huge," said Hartleb. "I was really proud of him because he had two home runs to left field this season and he stayed on that one and drove it out to right field."
VCU managed to get the tying run on base in the ninth, but eventually added to their left of base total.
Illinois is back on the diamond next weekend at U.S. Bank Stadium in Minneapolis. The Illini face UCLA, Arizona and Washington.
