CHAMPAIGN — The margin for error in the middle of the Big Ten baseball standings is slim. Just 2 1/2 games separate fourth place from eighth place in the conference standings.
One mistake could be enough to swing the outcome of a game. Illinois made four Sunday afternoon against Ohio State.
Those four errors resulted in eight unearned runs. Combine the uncharacteristically mistake-prone defense with several pitchers that struggled to find the zone, and the Illini dropped the series finale 10-5 to the Buckeyes in front of a crowd of 1,011 at Illinois Field.
“You look at the entire day, and every run they scored comes back to a bunt defense situation where we didn’t get a simple out,” Illinois coach Dan Hartleb said.