IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Iowa finished a three-game sweep of the No. 25 Illinois baseball team Sunday with a 3-1 final at Banks Field. Illinois outhit Iowa for the second straight game but stranded seven runners in scoring position and ran into another out at the plate.
Illinois (17-8, 0-3 Big Ten) went 4-for-13 with runners in scoring position and 0-for-4 with runners on third base and less than two outs. Ben Troike, Michael Massey, Kellen Sarver and Jeff Korte all had two hits for the Illini.
"I have a hard time with the at-bats we had today," said head coach Dan Hartleb. "I'll give Iowa credit. They went to Indiana last week and lost three games and they came out this weekend and came right at us."
Iowa (15-10, 3-3 Big Ten) scored all of their runs with two outs in the third inning when Austin Martin tripled in two runs then scored on a wild pitch. Illinois was swept after sweeping five of the first six weekends.
"The first game we beat ourselves," said Hartleb. "Yesterday they beat us and today we beat ourselves again. I'm not taking anything away from Iowa because they came at us and took advantage of our mistakes."
Illinois' bullpen was the only bright spot of the day as four relievers combined to keep Iowa scoreless on two hits over six innings. Ryan Schmitt (2.0 IP, 1 H), Sean Leland (1.0 IP, 0 H), Josh Harris (0.2 IP, 0 H) and Garrett Acton (1.1 IP, 0 H) combined to keep Illinois in the game.Â
Illinois welcomes No. 12 Coastal Carolina to Illinois Field for a two-game series Tuesday-Wednesday. The Illini have five home games next week with Maryland coming to Champaign for a three-game weekend series Friday-Sunday.Â
Notes
• Illinois outhit Iowa 26-22 in the three-game series.
• Illinois is on a season-long four-game losing streak.
• Iowa swept a Big Ten series for the first time since 2015.
• Illinois center fielder Zac Taylor has missed the last 12 games with an injury.
• Hitting streaks: Massey 10, Sarver 7
• Reached base streaks: Sarver 13, Massey 10, Van Scoy 8
