Illinois baseball (6-4) came out of the Las Vegas College Baseball Classic disappointed, finishing the weekend series with a 1-2 record. Illinois ended up dropping the two games to the two Texas-hailing programs in the classic.
The Illini have competed against a lot of teams from the Lone Star State to start the season, and have seen some success. But against No. 15 Texas (9-1) and Texas Tech (2-7), they struggled.
Unfavorable results
Games one and three for Illinois did not go as planned as the team lost by an average of 6.5 runs.
Illinois held onto the lead for most of the game against Texas Tech, ahead by a narrow 5-4 margin going into the ninth inning. Senior right-handed pitcher Ryan Daly trotted out to defend the lead.
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Daly only stayed on the mound for 0.1 innings after giving up three hits and four runs. The Illinois native threw 17 pitches before head coach Dan Hartleb pulled him and put in redshirt senior left-handed pitcher Payton Hutchings.
That inning was disastrous for Illinois. Not only did the Illini give up the lead, but the Red Raiders ran away with it. Despite a rally attempt by Illinois that produced a single run, Texas Tech won 10-6.
The weekend continued after Illinois beat Washington (4-8). Sitting 1-1 in the classic, the team put its focus on Texas.
Just like against Texas Tech, Illinois blew its lead. The Longhorns were sparked by a nine-run bottom of the sixth inning, with bullpen issues yet again playing a role in the loss for the Illini.
“The nine-run innings can’t happen,” Hartleb said. “There’s too many walks and pitches that are up in the zone.”
Freshman right-handed pitcher Luke Weber started the inning, but he did not last long into the sixth. After surrendering five runs, he was pulled with one out left in the inning. Even his replacement, Daly, was unable to stop the damage, throwing 14 pitches and giving up four more runs.
This final game of the weekend ended up finishing 15-6 in favor of Texas.
The lone victory
Washington almost got the best of Illinois as they held a 9-3 lead after five innings. However, that was before the Illini bats woke up and lit up the scoreboard with a six-run sixth inning.
Redshirt junior right-handed pitcher Ben Plumley went 4.1 innings to start on the bump but gave up eight runs during this stretch. Plumley’s season ERA took a major hit and now sits at 6.60.
Illinois started its sixth-inning comeback with a home run from graduate student catcher Jacob Schroeder. A couple of batters later, Illinois tied the game at nine with a two-run double.
The stalemate didn’t last long, as during the next inning, senior outfielder Vytas Valincius came through. His single brought home junior outfielder Nick Groves, the run which ultimately decided the game.
“Obviously, we started out rough, and Ben Plumley struggled some but continued to battle,” Hartleb said. “Our bats never gave in. We had quality at-bats and found ways to get big hits, and that’s a really, really good win.”
Learning from mistakes
Illinois’ performances on the mound cost the team a potential sweep over some good ball clubs. Illinois was outscored on the weekend 34-22 and gave up an average of 11.3 runs per game.
It wasn’t for the lack of batting, as the Illini kept up with their opponents for most of the games. However, the runs from the other dugouts were difficult for Illinois to overcome in two out of the three games.
Illinois has multiple chances to fix some of these issues as the season goes on. Just 10 games into the season, the team gets its next chance Tuesday against EIU (3-6).
The game will be Illinois’ second at home this season and will be live on Big Ten Plus for TV. The first pitch is at 6 p.m. at Illinois Field.
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