EAST LANSING, Mich. — Illinois baseball (14-11, 4-5) dropped the series finale to Michigan State (17-10, 4-5), 14-4, in eight innings, yesterday at McLane Stadium.
The Illini took two of three games over the weekend, however, to claim their first Big Ten series win of the campaign.
Offensively, Jack Zebig and Coltin Quagliano each tallied two-hit games, Cameron Chee-Aloy collected two RBI and Nick Groves walked three times.
Reed Gannon worked a scoreless seventh inning out of the bullpen for Illinois, retiring all three batters faced.
HOW IT HAPPENED
For the second time in the series, the Spartans scored their first time up to bat, taking a 3-0 lead.
The Illini got two runs back in the third on back-to-back two-out RBI-singles from Grant Ross and Zebig. Illinois would take its first lead in the contest on Cameron Chee-Aloy’s two-run single in the fourth.
Michigan State would take the lead for good with a four-spot in the fifth to make it 7-4 and would go on to score seven more runs to hand the Orange and Blue the 14-4 run-rule defeat.
UP NEXT
The Fighting Illini will be back in action on Tuesday when they welcome in-state foe Illinois State to Champaign. First pitch from Illinois Field is set for 6 p.m. CT.
GAME NOTES
» Jack Zebig went 2-for-4 with an RBI.
» 12th multi-hit game of the season.
» Coltin Quagliano went 2-for-3 with a run and a double.
» Extended his season-long hitting streak to nine games…has gone 14-for-35 (.400) during that span with five doubles, a home run and five RBI.
» Illinois went 4-for-8 (.500) with runners in scoring position.
» Illinois pitchers faced 40 Michigan State hitters in the game, allowing 10 ground balls and nine fly balls while striking out two.
