NORMAL, Ill. -- Illinois baseball (18-12) dropped its midweek contest at Illinois State (15-16), 14-4, in eight innings, today at Duffy Bass Field.
Vytas Valincius was the lone Illini to put together a multi-hit effort, going 2-for-3 at the plate with a walk.
Payton Hutchings turned 1.2 scoreless innings in relief, allowing just one hit. Nolan Girard, Christian Morel and Ryan Daly also tallied shutout innings out of the bullpen.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Redbirds jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one before Collin Jennings got the Illini on the board with an RBI-single in the third. Illinois State hit back with six runs in the home half of the frame to take a 10-1 advantage.
Illinois scored three times in the fourth, through a sacrifice fly from Will Johannes, an RBI-groundout from Grant Ross and an RBI-triple from Jack Zebig, to make it 10-4.
The hosts scored two more times in the bottom of the fourth and two more in the eighth to hand the Orange and Blue the 14-4 run-rule defeat.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Illini return to Illinois Field for a Big Ten series vs. Indiana. First pitch in Friday's opener is set for 6 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
» Vytas Valincius went 2-for-3 with a walk.
» Third-straight multi-hit game.
» Illinois went 3-for-10 (.300) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 48 Illinois State hitters in the game, allowing eight ground balls and 11 fly balls while striking out one.
» The Fighting Illini drew four walks from Illinois State pitching.
This story created through content automation technology from Data Skrive.
