The top half of the Stetson batting order had no answers for the pitching Illinois ran to the mound on Saturday night in a 4-1 loss to the Illini at the Westin Lake Mary Stetson Invitational.

The Illini (5-3) improved to 2-0 in the tournament thanks in large part to a group of pitchers who held the Hatters to just five hits while recording 12 strikeouts.

Stetson's pitching was almost equal to the Illini in the game, recording 13 strikeouts, but a two-out error in the fifth inning allowed the Illini to turn a one-run inning off starter Brooks Wilson (1-2) into a three-run frame, and the Hatters never recovered.

“You have to look at the results of the game and say that it was about good pitching,” Hatters coach Pete Dunn said. “I thought Brooks pitched really well and when you look at the strikeouts on our side, you have to say they had good pitching as well. Nine of the 12 strikeouts they had came from our top four hitters. That tells the story there.

“When you are not mounting any offense, there is no room for error on defense. We had a ground ball that would have gotten us out of the inning, but instead cost us two extra runs. If we get out of that, it is a tie ball game and a dog fight. You just can't give runs away when you aren't swinging the bat.”

Illinois starter Doug Hayes (2-1) was the beneficiary of the extra runs. He worked five innings for the Illini to get the win, allowing just one run on four hits with eight strikeouts. A trio of relievers followed, allowing just one more Stetson hit the rest of the way. Nick Blackburn worked an easy ninth to earn his third save of the year.

Wilson looked dominant for the Hatters (5-6) in the early innings, recording seven strikeouts in his five frames, including the final out in the Illini's three-run fifth. It was a one-out walk that started things in the inning before Michael Hurwitz broke up the scoreless tie with a two-out RBI single. Jason Goldstein followed with a hit before a second walk loaded the bases.

Wilson got the ground ball he was looking for from DH Anthony Drago, but freshman Matt Morales was unable to come up with the ball, and two runs scored on the play.

The Hatters plated their only run in the bottom of the inning after Jack Machonis led off with a double and Austin Hale followed with an infield single. Morales came to the plate next and, with a chance to make up for his fielding mistake, he just missed twice, once on a line drive down the right field line that went inches foul, and then on a hard-hit line drive right at third baseman Trent Hammond.

Colton Lightner followed with an RBI single, but Hayes responded to strikeout Vance Vizcaino and Cory Reid to end the inning.

“If you are looking for positives, Matt had a great at bat,” Dunn said. “To me that is little consolation for kicking the third out of the inning to give up two runs. We have to make those plays.

“You can't score one run and win many ballgames, I know that. It is really disappointing right now.”

Illinois capped the scoring with an insurance run in the eighth inning off senior Josh Thorne. Doran Turchan dropped a bloop double into shallow right field and then scored on a single up the middle by Jack Yalowitz.

The Hatters will have a chance to have a winning weekend when they face Central Michigan on Sunday afternoon. The Chippewas (1-8) earned their first win of the year earlier on Saturday with a 9-5 victory over Villanova. The Wildcats and Illini will start play on Sunday, with a first pitch scheduled for 11 a.m.

“Central Michigan always plays us tough,” Dunn said. “We always have good games with them. One thing is obvious with this team, we can't just show up and beat anyone. We had better find a way to do something at the plate.”