CHAMPAIGN, Ill. – Rutgers baseball ended its series versus No. 18 Illinois with a 10-4 loss Sunday at Illinois Field. The Scarlet Knights suffered their first weekend sweep against this season.
 
Senior Kyle Walker highlighted the lineup with a three-run homer in the top of the fourth inning. On the mound, sophomore Kyle Gerace threw three shutout innings of relief. Sophomore Eric Reardon (1-2) made his first Big Ten start and began his outing with two scoreless frames.
 
Ty Weber earned the win for Illinois (23-8, 9-3) by pitching a complete game with four hits allowed and six strikeouts.
 
The Scarlet Knights (18-14, 4-5) quickly jumped ahead three batters into the game. Freshman Mike Nyisztor hit the first pitch of the day up the middle for a single and scored all the way from first when junior Nick Matera drove an RBI double off the left-center wall.
 
Reardon posted zeroes in both the first and second innings to keep the lead. In the first, RU turned a double play and nearly had a triple play with a runner caught between third and home. But a fly ball following ended the inning. Illinois did take the lead in the third on a grand slam by Michael Massey, a two-run shot by Jack Yalowitz and a sacrifice fly.
 
Then in the fourth, fifth-year senior Chris Folinusz hit a leadoff single, with junior Carmen Sclafani took a pitch off the back to put two on. Walker later lifted a no-doubter to right-center to make it 7-4. It was his third career long ball.
 
The Fighting Illini tacked on one in the fourth and two in the fifth. From there, Gerace and freshman Jacob Kodros combined to prevent any further runs from scoring.
 
RU will return to New Jersey to face Monmouth on the road Tuesday at 3 p.m. on ESPN3. The next Big Ten series is against Nebraska at Bainton Field.
 

Goodbye! Walker crushes a three-run homer to right-center. His first of the season cuts it to a three-run deficit.

7-4 ILL T4 pic.twitter.com/JHyRKdctHh

— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) April 15, 2018

A quick lead! Matera crushes an RBI double off the wall and Nyisztor scores from first.

1-0 RU T1 pic.twitter.com/byWiP7LWm0

— Rutgers Baseball (@RutgersBaseball) April 15, 2018

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