CONWAY, S.C. --Â Illinois baseball (2-5) closed out its weekend at Coastal Carolina with a 7-1 loss to Ball State (4-3) today at Springs Brooks Stadium.
Vytas Valincius slugged his second home run of the season to provide the offense for the Orange and Blue and Cameron Chee-Aloy extended his hitting streak to seven games.
Logan Tabeling worked a scoreless seventh inning out of the bullpen, picking up a pair of strikeouts. The Tuscola, Ill., native now has 11 punchouts in 5.0 innings of work.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Cardinals opened the scoring in the second by pushing a run across then added three more in the third to take a 4-0 lead. Ball State also tacked on runs in the fourth and sixth to take a 6-0 lead heading into the seventh.
Valincius then put the Illini on the board by leading off the top-half of the frame with a solo shot to left-center for his second long ball of the season, making it 6-1.
The Cardinals would add one more run in the eighth to hand the Illini the 7-1 defeat.
UP NEXT
Illinois welcomes Eastern Illinois to Illinois Field on Tuesday, Feb. 27, for the 2024 home opener. First pitch is scheduled for 3 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
» Vytas Valincius went 1-for-3 with a run, home run and RBI.
» Cameron Chee-Aloy went 1-for-5 to extend his hitting streak to seven games.
    » Has begun his career 7-for-26 (.269) at the plate to go along with six runs, three home runs and six RBI.
» Logan Tabeling worked a scoreless seventh, picking up two strikeouts.
    » Has struck out 11 batters in 5.0 innings of work this season, compared to 13 over 16.0 innings last year.
» Illinois pitchers limited Ball State to just 2-for-10 (.200) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 36 Ball State hitters in the game, allowing six ground balls and nine fly balls while striking out seven.
» The Fighting Illini drew six walks from Ball State pitching.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
