CONWAY, S.C. -- No. 20 Costal Carolina scored 10 runs in the first six innings Friday to beat the No. 25 Illinois baseball team, 11-3, at Springs Brooks Stadium.
Illinois (6-1), which entered the day as one of 13 unbeaten teams in college baseball, snapped its season-opening six-game winning streak. Coastal Carolina (8-2) snapped a two-game losing streak.
"Tomorrow is a new day," said head coach Dan Hartleb. "I've told these guys you have to learn from everything you do, both good and bad. We need to learn a lot from this."
Zac Taylor led the offense with two runs scored, including a solo home run in the second inning. Taylor had a single to increase his season average to .406 and a stolen base, his Big Ten leading ninth steal.
Michael Massey scored Illinois' other run after singling in the sixth. Massey has hit safely in eight straight games dating back to last season and reached in nine straight.
Coastal Carolina got home runs from Keaton Weisz and Kieton Rivers and a three-hit day from Scott McKeon. The No. 8-9 hitters in the lineup - Weisz and McKeon - combined to go 4-for-7 with a homer and three RBIs. Illinois pitching issued a season-high seven walks and hit four batters.
Coastal ace Zach McCambley (2-0) picked up the win by allowing one run in five innings. Andy Fisher (1-1) was tagged with the loss after giving up six runs (five earned) in 4 1/3 innings.
Illinois is back Saturday at Coastal Carolina's Springs Brooks Stadium to face Northeastern at 7:30 p.m. CT to continue its four-game, four-day weekend. The Illini will meet Coastal Carolina again April 2-3 at Illinois Field.
Notes
• Illinois is ranked No. 25 by D1Baseball.com, while Coastal Carolina is ranked No. 20.
• Illinois is 5-8 all-time against Coastal Carolina.
• Current hitting streaks: Massey 8, McDonald 4, Taylor 3, Sarver 3
• Current reached base streaks: Taylor 9, Massey 9, Comia 7, McDonald 7
• Cam McDonald added one to his team-leading RBI total (8).
• Coastal Carolina had the leadoff batter reach and score in four of the first five innings.
• Nathan Lavender and Tyler Engel made their first career pitching appearances for Illinois.
• A play in the sixth inning that was originally ruled a hit for Zac Taylor was later changed to an error after this story was first published.
Revised Saturday Schedule
10 a.m. ET - Northeastern vs. Indiana
1:30 p.m. ET - Indiana vs. Connecticut
5:00 p.m. ET - Connecticut vs. Coastal Carolina
8:30 p.m. ET - Northeastern vs. Illinois
