Baseball

MVC BASEBALL CHAMPIONSHIP GAME 8 – #2 Illinois State 10, #3 Indiana State 7

Normal, IL – Indiana State scored six runs in the top of the sixth to take a 7-3 lead, but Illinois State bounced back with five in the bottom half and held on for a 10-7 win in a Missouri Valley Conference Tournament game Thursday at Duffy Bass Field.

John Rave’s two-out double scored Jack Butler with the tying run and Aiden Huggins with the lead run in the critical Redbird sixth. The Birds picked up two insurance runs in the eighth. With Rave at second and Derek Parola at first, Jordan Libman’s slow bouncer earned him an infield hit and a wild throw to first allowed both runners to score to give Illinois State a 10-7 lead heading into the ninth.

The Sycamores got the tying run to the plate with two outs in the ninth against Redbird closer Jacob Gilmore, who got a called third strike past pinch-hitter Joe Boyle on the eighth pitch of the at-bat. Gilmore picked up his 11th save of the season for winning pitcher Jack Anderson (3-0), who got the last two outs in the Sycamore sixth. Tyler Ward (5-3) took the loss for Indiana State.

The No. 2 seed Redbirds (34-22) advance to play No. 1 seed Dallas Baptist (40-16) at 3 p.m. Friday. The No. 3 seed Sycamores (37-16) play No. 8 seed Southern Illinois (26-28) at 11 a.m.

Indiana State used two hits, two walks, two Illinois State errors and two hit batters to plate those six sixth-inning runs. Critical singles by CJ Huntley and Dane Tofteland both drove in runs.

Trailing 7-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Joe Aeilts started the Redbirds with a single and Joe Butler followed with a walk. After the first Redbird out, Ward replaced starter Collin Liberatore on the mound. He hit Nick Zouras with a pitch, loading the bases. Jack Butler drove in two runs with a ringing double to right, Zouras stopping at third. Zouras scored on Aiden Huggins’ single to right—his third hit of the night—closing the gap to 7-6.

Rave greeted reliever Tyler Grauer with a drive in the left-center gap to put the Birds back on top, 8-7.

Indiana State scored first in the contest in the top of the first inning when Means drew a one-out walk and went to third on Watkins’ single, scoring on Huntley’s ground out.  Joe Butler answered for Illinois State in the second inning with his fourth home run of the season leading off the second to tie the game 1-1.

In the Redbird fifth, Nick Zouras led off with a double in the right-center gap. With an 0-2 count, Jack Butler put down a perfect sacrifice to move Zouras to third. Aiden Huggins gave the Redbirds a 2-1 lead with a single up the middle.

John Rave singled to move Huggins to third. Huntley made a diving catch of Derek Parola’s line drive in left field, which turned out to be a sacrifice fly, scoring Huggins to put the Birds ahead 3-1.