First loss… and first runs allowed this season
Put away the brooms. Today just wasn’t going to happen for the Illini.
Despite coming back from a four run deficit, Illinois (17-5-1) lost to South Florida (16-8-1) in ten innings 8-5 on Sunday at Illinois Field.
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Five earned runs charged to John Kravetz
It was probably a humbling day for Illini pitching.
Starter John Kravetz (1-0) who had given up just seven runs all season, allowed five in the third inning alone. More incredibly, Tyler Jay (4-1) who hasn’t seen a run cross the plate yet in 2015, gave up three runs in the 10th inning. Jay also suffered his first loss of the season in today’s game.
Reid Roper made it close in the fifth with a 3-run homer
That’s not to say there weren’t positives to take away from today’s game. Casey Fletcher continued his clutch hitting by getting the Illini off to a good start. His base knock drove home a run in the first inning giving Illinois an early lead. Down 5-1 in the fifth inning, the Illini battled back. With two runners on, Reid Roper hit a three-run homerun to bring Illinois to within one run, 5-4. It’s Roper’s third homer of the season and he now has 19 rbis which leads the team. In the bottom of the eighth, David Kerian tied it with a rbi single.
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Relievers J.D. Nielsen (left) and Nick Blackburn (right) have been pretty solid lately for the Illini. Today was no exception. They combined for three scoreless innings giving up one hit each.
Random Ramblings
I have photos posted. You can find them here.
USF Bull brother duo Levi and Luke Borders were big contributors to the victory over Illinois. They combined to go 8 for 10 with 5 rbis. If you’re wondering, they are indeed the sons of former MLB catcher Pat Borders.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not down on either Kravetz or Jay. An off game was bound to happen to one of our starting pitchers sooner or later. And let’s be real, how long did we really think Tyler Jay was going to keep a scoreless streak going? I was watching Jay pretty closely today and even in between giving up his five hits, he was fooling USF hitters in the worst way.
Wow! Take a look at this Indiana-Penn State boxscore from today. Penn State who can only boast a 4-14 record, came back from a 7-0 deficit to beat #21 Indiana 13-7. Eight errors by IU probably didn’t help.
In other news, the Big Ten season has started in faraway places.
Next up
Speaking of the Big Ten season, Illinois will begin their Big Ten series in East Lansing next weekend. First though, they have two midweek games scheduled.
The rest of campus is on spring break but the Illinois players will be here in town to take on Illinois State on Tuesday at 4pm and Kent State on Wednesday at 3pm. Both games will be at Illinois Field.