Baseball Suffers 1-0 Loss to 25th-Ranked Illinois

Friday, February 27

Myrtle Beach, S.C.

2:00 PM

Ball State University

4-3

Illinois

7-0-1

Ball State Cardinals

Illinois

Baseball Loses 4-2 Contest at UNC Wilmington

February 27, 2015 | Baseball

Box Score

By: Ball State Athletics

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Scott Baker struck out nine batters and allowed only four hits and one run to 25th-ranked Illinois Friday afternoon, but the one run was all the Illini needed in the 1-0 victory at TicketReturn.com Field in Myrtle Beach, S.C.

With the loss, Ball State fell to 4-3 on the season, while Illinois remained unbeaten and improved to 7-0-1 on the year.

"Today was a pitching classic as Scott Baker was outstanding and so were the Illinois pitcher," Ball State head coach Rich Maloney said. "Unfortunately, we fell a hair short, but we are proud of the way our players battled. It was unfortunate someone had to lose this game. We are looking forward to watching our team compete tomorrow."

Baker fell to 1-2 despite the outstanding performance, while Illinois' Kevin Duchene improved to 1-0 after pitching seven innings, allowing five hits and striking out nine.

Ball State's biggest scoring threat came in the fourth inning when Jarett Rindfleisch singled to right field and advanced to second when Caleb Stayton was hit by a pitch. With one out and runners on first and second, Sean Kennedy singled to right field to load the bases before the inning ended with a fly out and ground out by the Cardinals.

Illinois' solo run came in the bottom of the fourth on a pair of singles that scored a runner from second base and provided all the offense needed to score the win.

Kennedy led the Cardinals offensively with a 2-for-4 performance from the plate, while Rindfleisch, Brandon Estep and Matt Eppers added one hit apiece.

Ball State will play Illinois Saturday at 11 a.m. and then face West Virginia in a 3 p.m. contest. West Virginia fell to 3-4 on the season with a 5-2 loss to Kent State in Myrtle Beach Friday.

Both of Ball State's Saturday games are at TicketReturn.com Field, which is the home for the Myrtle Beach Pelicans, a single-A affiliate of the Chicago Cubs. The Cardinals will play Coastal Carolina Sunday at 1 p.m. at the Chanticleers' campus home field – Spring Brooks Stadium.