The moment of truth came and went for the Illinois baseball team, and if nothing else, it can say it went down swinging.

In a crucial contest against heavily favored Vanderbilt, with a trip to the regional final on the line, Illinois fell 10-4 in a game that was close early and blown open late by the No. 2-ranked Commodores’ offense.

The critical moment came in the seventh inning, Illinois batting in the bottom half despite the game contested in Vanderbilt’s home concourse. With Jason Goldstein on second base and his team trailing 5-4, Big Ten Player of the Year Justin Parr was at the plate.

The Illini had battled the Commodores all game, and Goldstein’s leadoff double provided Parr’s squad with a golden opportunity — the tying run in scoring position with the top of the lineup due up and no outs. Vanderbilt reliever Carson Fulmer, who already pitched two innings at that point, induced a pop-up from Thomas Lindauer and struck out Michael Hurwitz to bring up Parr.

It took Fulmer four pitches to dispatch Parr, a strikeout swinging. The Orange and Blue would not be able to keep it close after that, as Ronnie Muck, who was Illinois’ fourth pitcher at that point, allowed four hits and took four earned runs as Vanderbilt tallied five in the top of the eighth.

“It’s easy to see why they’re as successful as they are,” Illinois head coach Dan Hartleb said. “They play very unselfish, they move runners. Fundamentally, they were very solid, and that was the difference in the game.”

It could be argued that Parr shouldn’t have needed to single in the tying run in the seventh, that it had already been plated. With one out in the fifth inning, with Parr on first and Hurwitz on third and Brandon Hohl batting, Hohl struck out swinging as Parr dashed for second. The throw went into center field, and Hurwitz trotted home. The umpires ruled, however, that Hohl interfered with the throw. Instead of notching the tying run, Illinois was out of the inning.

Hartleb called it a big momentum shift but said his team handled it well. As for the call itself, he refrained from expressing an opinion.

“I’d prefer not to talk about it. I’d like to keep my money,” he said.

Illinois starter John Kravetz was only able to go 4 1/3 innings, surrendering nine hits in that time and allowing five earned runs. Kravetz got six strikeouts and didn’t register any walks, though he did hit a batter.

The Illini finished with a total of six pitchers on the night and 17 hits allowed.

Despite Vanderbilt’s lofty hitting numbers, Illinois had kept the game close until the eighth inning and held an advantage at several stages of the game, including the game’s first lead.

Thomas Lindauer led off for Illinois in the bottom of the first with a triple and scored two batters later on a Justin Parr groundout.

Vanderbilt retaliated in the third with a two-out rally powered by aggressive base running. Commodores speedster Tony Kemp singled to right field and went to try and stretch it into a double. The throw was errant, and Kemp took third base. Xavier Turner followed with a single, and stole second to get himself in scoring position. A triple scored Turner before Kravetz was able to get the third out.

“That’s a very good lineup, probably the best lineup we’ve faced, or at least I personally have faced,” Kravetz said. “But nothing we can’t handle or are intimidated by.”

Tyler Beede, Vanderbilt’s 14-0 starter who boasted a 2.29 ERA entering the game, walked Illinois’ first two batters in the third, and after a fielder’s choice, Justin Parr loaded the bases thanks to a Commodores error. Jordan Parr sacrificed to score the tying run to make it 2-2, and Brandon Hohl singled in the go-ahead run.

The Illini extended their lead to 4-2 in the next inning thanks to aggressive running by Davis Hendrickson, who stole second, advanced to third on a ground ball and scored on a wild pitch.

Beede was able to get out of the inning, but after a leadoff walk by Michael Hurwitz in the fifth, he was pulled in favor of Fulmer.

The freshman was stellar in relief, allowing just three hits and no runs over five innings.

It was the leadoff man Kemp who hurt Illinois most offensively, with a 4-for-6 performance at the plate and three runs. The havoc he created on the base paths helped put pressure on the Illinois defense, whose three errors were the most it committed in a game since a 9-2 win over Ohio State on April 19 and matched its total for the last 10 games.

“He’s kinda the motor for their offense, and gets everyone going,” Kravetz said of Kemp. “He had two hits off me and stole second both times. There’s a reason he’s the SEC Player of the Year.”

It’s win or go home for the Illini from here on, as they have a rematch with Georgia Tech set for Sunday at 2 p.m. If they win, they will face Vanderbilt later in the day. Ryan Castellanos will start the first game for Hartleb’s squad, but he would not say who would start should the Illini survive the Yellow Jackets to earn a rematch with Vanderbilt.

“I expect to win tomorrow, I expect us to be in a championship situation tomorrow and force us into Monday,” he said. “But we can’t look ahead, we’ve got a very good Georgia Tech team that we need to take care of business against, and we need to come out with energy and play hard again Sunday.”

Eliot can be reached at [email protected] and @EliotTweet.