Yikes! I go away for one weekend and come back to find that the U of I has lost 3 straight. The Illini played in the Baseball Express Collegiate Classic. Unfortunately, all the lessons they learned last weekend when they swept Southern Florida had gone by the wayside.
Well, the good news is that on Friday, they won the first game against the Louisana-Lafayete Cajuns in a crazy 14-12 win where they came back with a 7-run rally in the seventh. Lars Davis, who has been just about near-unstoppable, had a 3 hit game.
The good news stops about there.
Saturday, the Illini saw their 4 game win streak snapped against UT-San Antonio. The culprit? Walks and errors. UI pitchers allowed six walks and four hit batsmen. In addition, the fielders committed three errors. If this sounds familiar, it is. See the events of the Stetson Invitational.
Against Norte Dame on Sunday, Brian Blomquist was pitching. So ND was only held to only four runs. Unfortunately, UI couldn’t get the offense going. Final score: ND 4 UI 2.
The Illini had a chance to redeem themselves in the last game of tournament against Texas A&M. Nothing doin’ here. No offense. No pitching. The Aggies slaughtered the Illini 11-1.
Lars Davis (.432) and Shawn Roof (.308) and Mike Rohde (.300) are the big hitters so far this season. Davis also leads in rbis (10) and total bases (tied with Ryan Hastings with 17). Brian Blomquist has a 2.16 ERA through 3 starts.