Illinois Baseball Falls in Five-Hour Marathon at Illinois State

Tuesday, March 31

Normal, Ill.

4 PM CT

University of Illinois

14-13

Illinois State

19-10

Team	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Runs R	Hits H	Errors E
Illinois	0	0	0	0	0	1	0	0	0	1	3	1
Illinois St.	0	0	0	0	0	3	1	0	X	4	7	1

ILLINI BASE at Illinois State - pregame hat

Illinois Baseball Falls in Five-Hour Marathon at Illinois State

March 31, 2026 | Baseball

Box Score

RECAP

NORMAL, Ill. – The Fighting Illini fell to Illinois State, 4-1, on Tuesday night at Duffy Bass Field in Normal, Ill., in a game that featured two weather delays and spanned nearly five-and-a-half hours.

Sam Mommer got the start, throwing four shutout innings with two strikeouts and only two hits allowed. Ike Young fired a scoreless eighth with three strikeouts.

Illinois opened the scoring in the top of the sixth, but the Redbirds responded with three runs in the bottom half of the frame. The hosts added another tally in the seventh, which wrapped up the scoring on Tuesday night.

POSTGAME NOTES

Nick Groves reached base on a leadoff walk.
- Extended his on-base streak to 39 games.
  - Now owns sole possession of the fourth-longest reached base streak by an Illini since 2004.
  - Is the longest streak by an Illini since Branden Comia reached in 60 straight games from 2022-23.
Michael Farina went 1-for-4 with a single.
- Has a hit in four straight games.
Jack Zebig reached on a walk in the ninth.
- Has drawn a walk in five of the last six games.
- Has now reached in nine consecutive appearances.
Collin Jennings went 1-for-4 with a triple.
- Marked his 15th extra-base hit of the season.
  - Was his second triple of the year.
- Has a hit in five of the last six games.
Kyle Schupmann posted a 1-for-4 day at the plate.
- Has a hit in nine consecutive contests.
- Has reached base in 10 straight games.
Sam Mommer got the start, going four scoreless innings and tallying two strikeouts.
- Marked the longest outing of his Illini career.
- Has thrown multiple shutout innings in four of his eight outings.
  - Has six scoreless appearances in total.
- Has posted multiple strikeouts in all eight outings this season.
Richie LaCien went two innings with two strikeouts.
- Tied for his longest appearance of the season.
Ike Young struck out the side in the eighth.
- Had multiple strikeouts for the third time this season.

UP NEXT

Illinois (14-13, 6-6 B1G) closes its road swing with a three-game Big Ten series at Purdue, with Game 1 slated for Friday at 5 p.m. CT from Alexander Field in West Lafayette, Ind.