A change of scenery for the Illinois baseball team did not help the Illini’s two-game losing streak.

Illinois lost 6-2 to Illinois State in Bloomington, Ill., after two early errors, leadng to its third loss in a row.

“We made a few costly mistakes early on,” catcher Jason Goldstein said. “It was just one or two pitches and one or two plays that really cost us (Wednesday).”

In his second start this season, Illinois freshman Cody Sedlock walked two and recorded an error while giving up all six of Illinois State’s runs in the first two innings.

Sedlock’s error was one of the two the Illini committed in the game. Both errors came in the first two frames and cost Illinois runs. 

“We had a possible double play ball that we only got one out of in the second inning, then another routine error in the second,” Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb said. “So that led to five runs that should not have scored.”

While Sedlock struggled in his outing, the Illini relief pitchers put together a strong performance after taking over for the freshman with two outs in the second inning. Illinois used three more pitchers, who combined to throw 5 1/3 scoreless innings and record 10 strikeouts.

“I thought our bullpen did a good job, especially Andrew Mamlic, he threw outstanding,” Hartleb said.

Mamlic struck out the side in both of his innings pitched.

The Redbirds got on the board in the first, jumping out to a 1-0 lead on an RBI single.

Illinois State added five runs in the second. The first score of the inning came on a solo home run from junior Brock Stewart. The Redbirds tacked on four more runs on a Paul DeJong grand slam.

After recording just two hits through the first three innings, Illinois was able to crack the scoreboard in the fourth. Goldstein doubled to right center field, advanced to third on a single by first baseman David Kerian and scored on a wild pitch during the next at bat.

Illinois was kept off the scoreboard for the next four innings before striking again in the ninth. With one out, outfielder Will Krug singled up the middle. A wild pitch allowed Krug to advance to second and an RBI single from shortstop Adam Walton drove Krug in.

After another strikeout, Goldstein kept the inning alive and moved Walton to second on a single, but the inning and the game ended on the next at bat as sophomore left fielder Ryan Nagle grounded out to end the game.

Illinois struck out 12 times and left 12 runners on base in the game.

“We struck out 12 times and on 10 of those strike three was not in the strike zone so we didn’t swing at strikes in those situations,” Hartleb said.

Goldstein added that although the team needs to cut down on strikeouts, he feels the team improved offensively in the game.

“I thought we chased a lot of bad pitches. But kids that had bad at bats early in the game came back later and had good at bats,” Goldstein said. “We strive to score five to six runs and with 10-plus hits a game. If we can do that we’ll be in pretty good shape for most games. Unfortunately today we didn’t get the big hits.”

Nicholas can be reached at [email protected] and @IlliniSportsGuy.