Somewhere on a bus between Columbus, Ohio, and Champaign, Dan Hartleb, head coach of the Illinois baseball team, addressed his disappointment in his team’s performance.

The Illini were hours removed from dropping Sunday’s rubber match 7-3 in a weekend series against Ohio State. Illinois entered the weekend with hopes of a sweep that would push it past the Buckeyes in the conference standings. But after winning Friday night’s matchup 9-2 behind Kevin Johnson, who took a no-hitter into the sixth inning on his way to becoming Illinois’ leader in career innings pitched, Illinois dropped the next two, with Saturday’s 7-6 extra-innings loss sparking particular dismay from the Illini’s eighth-year head coach.

The Illini (24-12,6-6 Big Ten) matched a season high with 13 runners left on base Saturday in a game that featured four ties and four lead changes. The Buckeyes (25-13, 9-6) eventually won with a one-out double by Buckeyes catcher Brad Hallberg in the bottom of the 10th inning to end the game.

John Kravetz went just 2 2/3 innings before he was replaced by Kevin Duchene, which Hartleb found unacceptable.

“He’s been disappointing,” Hartleb said. “He needs to make adjustments — things that make you a successful pitcher, that get you out of trouble and out of jams.

“It’s not a one-day thing. He needs to throw strikes.”

Saturday’s contest was Kravetz’s fifth no-decision of the season. He is 3-1 with a 5.59 ERA, but his struggles escalate against Big Ten teams. The right-handed sophomore has averaged just under five innings per outing in four Big Ten starts this season. He’s 0-1 with four no-decisions during that time, along with an 8.84 ERA and .355 opposing batting average.

“It’s on me,” Kravetz said of his performance on Saturday. “You can’t have a starter just go 2 2/3 innings.”

Johnson, Kravetz’s teammate since their days attending Mount Carmel high school in Chicago, said some of Kravetz’s mistakes are on account of his habit of dealing himself into hitter-friendly pitching counts. Johnson has observed that Kravetz could do a better job keeping batters off-balance with his pitch selection, as falling behind in the count allows for hitters to set up for specific pitches.

“What makes a good pitcher is being able to battle when you don’t have your good stuff going,” Johnson added. “Some days you have it, some days you don’t.”

Johnson’s performance Friday was a welcomed return to form after struggling the week before against Purdue. Along with Johnson’s play on the mound, Friday saw the offense’s highest production with nine runs. Yet as a whole, the Illini look to see more consistent play from their batters.

Outfielder Justin Parr said it’s not just how many runs Illinois scores, but how it scores them. While the Illini have had a knack for the big inning as of late, they’ve experienced less success scoring multiple times throughout the game. Sunday’s game in particular saw Illinois get ahead 2-0 to lead in the top of the first inning before allowing six runs in the following inning and only scoring one run the rest of the game.

“We have to be more consistent in the way we score,” Parr said.

If there’s been a model of consistency this season, it’s Parr, who extended his career-best hitting streak to 24 games to place him one shy of Ryan Snowden’s record of 25 set in 2007. Parr finished the series 5-for-13 with four RBIs.

Consistency had played in the Illini’s favor prior to Ohio State. Illinois entered the weekend on a four-game winning streak, having notched double-figure hits in each of those wins. The Illini will look to return to their winning ways Tuesday against Eastern Illinois, the team Illinois had last lost to before Saturday.

Jeff can be reached at [email protected] and @jkirsh91.