IU struggles in away matches

For the second consecutive weekend, the Hoosiers lost all their games on the road, falling in two to No. 17 Northwestern and one to Illinois. The final game against Illinois was called because of rain after two innings.\nWith the winless weekend, IU falls to an even record of 20-20-1 for the season with a 3-8 record in Big Ten action.\nIn the first game of its series against Northwestern, one of only two Big Ten teams currently ranked in the top 25, IU's bats struggled, a trend that would continue for the remainder of the weekend. The Wildcats defeated the Hoosiers 8-0, helped by the 11 strikeouts the Northwestern pitchers registered against the Hoosiers.\nThe game was tight through three innings. Neither team had put up any runs and the Hoosiers had gotten out of a jam in the bottom of the third to keep the game scoreless. The Wildcats broke the game open in the fourth with four runs on four hits, and then a pair of runs in the fifth put the game away for good.\nFor the second straight game, the IU bats struggled in their final game against Northwestern, falling 11-1. The beginning of the game ended up playing out similar to the game the day before, with the game remaining scoreless until the Wildcats' half of the fourth. And exactly like the day before, Northwestern ended up putting up four runs in the fourth inning. The Wildcats added another run in the top of the fifth before IU scored its only run of the contest in bottom of the sixth, a solo home run by senior Mariangee Bogado. In the final inning, the Wildcats added on six more runs to put the game out of reach.\nOn Sunday, the Hoosiers remained in the same state and had the same result. IU took on Illinois for what was scheduled to be a double header, however, the second game was called because of rain.\nIn what would turn out to be the only game, the Illini defeated the Hoosiers 6-5.\nFor the first time all weekend, the Hoosier bats came out hot when freshman Sarah Padove hit a two-run home run in the first inning. Over the next two innings, IU ended up putting up two more runs to take a 4-0 lead with three innings in the books. Unfortunately, the Hoosier bats cooled down.\nWith two runs in the fourth and a grand slam in the fifth, U of I took the lead 6-4 through five. Padove's hot bat continued to produce, as her RBI-single scored fellow freshmen Stephanie Pellerito, who reached earlier in the inning on a double to left center. But that ended up being the end of the scoring as the Illini held on to the one-run victory 6-5.\nIU will look to get back on track at home in Bloomington with a game against IU-Purdue University Fort Wayne at 4 p.m. Tuesday.