CONWAY, S.C. – Middle Tennessee baseball opened the Carolinas Coastline Classic with a tough loss to Illinois, 4-7.
The Blue Raiders (1-5) scored first on Brett Coker's first home run of the season in the second inning. Jackson Galloway's first of two doubles on the afternoon added to the early MT lead, making it 2-0.
Illinois (2-2) rallied to score four runs in the fourth inning and scored another in the fifth to take a 5-2 lead.
MT scored two more on consecutive RBI singles from Jacob Williams and Luke Vinson in the eighth to cut the deficit to one, but the Fighting Illini responded with two of their own in the bottom half of the inning.