Illinois State exploded for seven runs in the seventh inning and went on to defeat the Missouri State baseball team by an 11-7 score Sunday afternoon at Redbird Field in Normal, Ill.
The Bears fell to 15-12 overall and 2-4 in the Missouri Valley Conference after being swept by the Redbirds over the weekend. ISU improved to 12-13 and evened its league record at 3-3.
Missouri State jumped on the board with two runs in the first. Nolan Keane singled to left and moved to second when the left fielder overran the ball. Matt Lawson lined the next pitch into left center to bring Keane around to score. Lawson stole second and scored on Ryan Mantle’s double to left to give the Bears a 2-0 lead.
A double, walk and single put Redbirds on all three bases with no outs in the first. Jake Shafer bore down and allowed just one run across, an RBI fielder’s choice by Kevin Dubler.
Illinois State pushed two more across in the second. Matt Bolt knocked a two-out, two-run single to center for ISU’s first lead of the day at 3-2.
MSU grabbed the lead back with three runs in the fifth. Keane and Lawson hit one-out singles and Ben Carlson launched a towering fly ball that carried all the way to the wall in left for a two-run double. Carlson went to third on a wild pitch and scored on Mantle’s grounder.
After Dubler added an RBI double in the fifth, Kyle Paul hammered his first homer of the year well over the left field wall to move the lead to 6-4 in the top of the sixth.
Shafer left the game in line for the win with two outs in the sixth. The junior struck out four before being relieved by Buddy Baumann.
The first two Redbirds reached in the seventh and Jesse Griswold smacked an RBI double to right center that put runners on second and third and made the score 6-5 with no outs. Kyle Cherney ripped a single back up the middle to plate two more runs. Pat Doyle came in after Baumann allowed the first five men he faced to reach safely. Doyle walked the first batter he saw and tossed a wild pitch for another ISU run. After a strikeout, Collin Salzenstein hit a two-run triple over Keane’s head in right, and Bolt added a sacrifice fly to cap a seven-run seventh and make the score 11-6 in favor of the home team.
Baumann took the loss and fell to 0-3.
Josh Mazzola added a pinch-hit RBI single in the eighth for the final score.
Illinois State put the leadoff man on base in six of its eight times at bat.
The Bears open a two-game home midweek set with Southeast Missouri State at 7 p.m. Tuesday.
