Illinois (25-16, 11-4) dropped its series finale to Maryland (27-17, 7-10), 11-7, today at Bob "Turtle" Smith Stadium.

Vytas Valincius led the way at the plate, going 2-for-4 with a run, double, home run and five RBI. Connor Milton also went yard in the contest, going 1-for-3 with two runs, a home run, an RBI and a walk. Cal Hejza reached base safely four times, going 2-for-3 with two runs and two walks.

Trailing 7-1, the Illini began chipping away at the deficit in the fourth, when Valincius led off the inning with a solo blast to left center. The Orange and Blue scored two more in the fifth, with Milton launching a solo round-tripper over the batter's eye and Valincius bringing home another run with a sacrifice fly to make it 7-4.

Maryland scraped a run across in the seventh but Valincius would come up clutch in the eighth, clearing the bases with a two-out, three-run double to make it 8-7.

Illinois left 10 runners stranded on base in the loss.

The Illini dropped two out of three over the weekend. Tey host Indiana State Tuesday.