Illinois baseball (5-9) completed its fourth weekend tournament on the road, taking three losses in Knoxville to No. 8 Tennessee. The Illini battled with the highly ranked program on Friday and Sunday but were crushed on Saturday.
Showing strength in the series opener, the Illini recorded 11 hits to the Volunteer’s nine but left too many runners on base as innings expired in a 6-3 loss. Leading offensively for Illinois was junior catcher Camden Janik, who went 3-5 at the plate with two doubles and RBI each. Multi-hit performances also came from senior shortstop Cal Hejza and graduate second baseman Brody Harding.
The Illini jumped on a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but the Volunteers answered with three runs in the home frame. Tennessee continued to tack on runs throughout the game while Illinois couldn’t score again until the top of the ninth. The two-run rally in the last frame wasn’t enough, as the game finished with a 6-3 score. Senior right-handed pitcher Jack Crowder was given the start on Friday tossing five innings, letting up five runs and striking out five batters.
Saturday resulted in a home-team domination and an Illinois collapse. Senior right-hander Logan Tabeling started for the Illini but was relieved by sophomore lefty Sam Reed and four other bullpen arms. Tennessee ran up a 10-0 lead before graduate center fielder Asher Bradd drove in Illinois’ sole run in the fifth inning. The Volunteers would continue to score 14 more runs in their final at-bats in a 24-1 thrashing of the Illini.
On Sunday, the Illini once again out-hit the Volunteers but were unable to bring base runners home effectively. Junior right fielder Ryan Moerman put the Illini on the board first with a solo dinger in the second inning. Illinois added two more runs in the third on a double from redshirt junior first baseman Drake Westcott and a sacrifice fly but were held scoreless in the remaining innings as Tennessee went on an 8-0 rally with five runs in the bottom of the seventh.
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Hitting the road for the first month of the season with only one home game is truly a challenge, especially when tournaments involve ranked programs. Moving on from adversity and to more familiar opponents, Illinois baseball picks back up at Indiana State on Tuesday at 3 p.m.
