CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – SIUE and Illinois combined for eight home runs Tuesday night and in the end, the Illini overpowered the Cougars 17-6 in seven innings at Illinois Field.
The Cougars fell to 15-20 overall. Illinois improved to 21-13.
Mack Mitchell gave the Cougars an early lead, hitting his team-leading 11th home run of the year to lead off the game.
The Illini then scored six times on four hits against SIUE starter Gabriel Nutter (0-2) in the bottom of the inning. Illinois catcher Will Johannes dealt the biggest blow, with a two-out grand slam.
Nutter worked just 1 1/3 innings allowing eight runs on five hits.
Cougar catcher Sean Kang blasted a three-run shot in the second inning to cut the lead back to 6-4, but Illinois got a three-run shot of their own from Collin Jennings in the bottom of the inning to extend the lead out to 9-4.
Illinois homered three more times over the next four innings.
Freshman Trace Harrington launched his first career home run for the Cougars in the sixth inning.
Ethan Willougby and Brenden Fry had the only other hits for SIUE, which finished with five hits total.
The Cougars return to Roy E. Lee Field for a three-game Ohio Valley Conference series with Southern Indiana beginning Thursday.
