By ISU Sports Information
CHAMPAIGN – The Illinois State baseball team collected 10 hits but scored just one run in Tuesday’s 7-1 defeat to Illinois at Illinois Field.
Illinois (14-16) scored seven runs on 12 hits off of six Redbird pitchers. Jason Goldstein went 3-for-4 with four RBIs to pace the Fighting Illini offense.
Illinois State (8-23) hit the ball hard through five innings coming up with nine hits. The Redbirds were hitting 7-for-11 with two outs after the fifth inning, but were 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position. All 10 of Illinois State’s hits were singles.
Illinois jumped on top of the Redbirds in the first inning with two runs off of Illinois State starter Jacob Hendren. To start the first, Hendren walked the first two batters and then gave up a two-RBI double to Goldstein, giving Illinois a 2-0 lead.
Hendren, who was on a pitch count, was pulled after two innings of work. In the third inning, Mitch Vogrin came in relief and gave up an infield single to start the inning. He then short hopped a throw into first base on a pickoff attempt, allowing the runner to advance to second on the throwing error. Goldstein made the Redbirds pay for the mistake with an RBI single to left field. Illinois led 3-0 after three innings.
In the top of the fourth, Jean Ramirez and Ryan Hutchinson led off the inning with back-to-back singles. When Hutchinson singled into center, Illinois’ center fielder missed the cutoff man, which allowed both runners to advance to second and third base. Jared Hendren provided the Redbird’s lone run of the game with a ground out to first base scoring Ramirez.
The Fighting Illini added two insurance runs in the fifth with a two-out triple scoring a pair. Then, in the sixth, Goldstein drove in his fourth run of the game and scored a run to put Illinois on top 7-1.
Illinois State managed just one more hit the rest of the way and dropped its second game of the season to Illinois.
Hendren (1-7) took the loss for the Redbirds after going two innings and giving up two runs. Andrew Mamlic (2-6) earned his second win of the season with six innings of work and just one earned run. Owen Miller, 3-for-4, led three Redbirds with multi-hit games. Joe Kelch and Hutchinson both collected a pair of hits in the loss.
The Redbirds will hit the road this weekend to Terre Haute, Indiana for their first road Missouri Valley Conference series against Indiana State. First pitch for Friday’s tilt is set for 5:30 p.m. CT.
