By Illinois State Sports Information
NEW ORLEANS – The Illinois State baseball team dropped both games of Saturday’s doubleheader to Tulane, 3-2 in game one and 9-3 in game two, at Turchin Stadium.
The two losses for Illinois State (7-16) pushed the Redbirds’ losing streak to eight games, the longest stretch of losses since 2008.
Game One: Tulane 3, Redbirds 2 (12 innings)
Starters Steve Heilenbach and Emerson Gibbs held the game scoreless through the first three innings.
In the fourth inning, the Redbirds put together three-straight two-out hits. Owen Miller started the rally with a single to center. Blake Molitor followed with a single of his own, putting runners at first and second. Sean Beesley provided the big hit, scoring Miller from second base to give the Redbirds their first lead of the series.
Illinois State added another run in the fifth inning. Jared Hendren led off the inning with a single to right field and stole second base. Later, Redbird freshman Tyler Paulsen smashed a ball over the left fielder’s head to score Hendren.
Heilenbach worked through the first six innings with ease. Heilenbach then retired the first two Tulane hitters of the seventh inning before running into trouble. Tulane came up with three-consecutive two-out base hits. Jake Willsey delivered the big hit of the inning, a double down the left field line that scored two runs and tied the game at 2-2.
Rhett Rapshus came on in relief of Heilenbach in the eighth inning. The sophomore retired Tulane in order in the eighth. But in the ninth, Rapshus walked the first two hitters and hit the third to load the bases. Daniel Dwyer would save the day for the Redbirds, with back-to-back clutch plays in left field. First, Dwyer came in on a sinking line drive and slid to make the catch, which held the runner at third base. The next batter flied out to medium-deep left field, and the runner at third tagged on the play, but Dwyer cut down the potential game-winning run to push the game to extra innings.
Both teams went scoreless until the 12th inning, when Tulane’s Richard Carthon led off the inning with a single off Jack Landwehr. Tulane bunted Carthon over to second base. With two outs in the inning, Tulane leadoff man Stephen Alemais singled through the left side. Dwyer came up throwing to home plate, but his throw was just a second late as Cathron slid in head-first to score the game-winning run. Tulane walked off in game one, with a 3-2 victory.
Heilenbach went seven innings, gave up seven hits and two earned runs in the no decision. Landwehr (1-2) was credited with the loss after giving up two hits and one earned run in 1.2 innings pitched.
Game Two: Tulane 9, Redbirds 3
David Meade was sharp to start the game as he retired the first six batters that he faced.
In the third inning, Dwyer worked a walk with one out, and a batter later Kelch singled up the middle. Miller put the Redbirds on the board first with a two-out double down the left field line, scoring two runs.
Tulane answered back in the bottom of the third inning. With runners on second and third, Cathron hit a slow roller past the right side of the mound just out of the reach of Meade, which scored one run. On the same play, Joe Kelch tried to bare-hand the ball and bobbled it, which allowed the second run to cross home plate. Tulane tied the game at 2-2.
In the bottom of the fourth inning, Tulane smacked back-to-back doubles off Meade with two outs to score the go-ahead run, giving the hosts a 3-2 lead. Meade worked a 1-2-3 inning in the fifth but was pulled in the sixth.
Trailing 3-2 in the top of the sixth, Kelch tied the game with a leadoff home run to left field. Mitch Vogrin took to the mound in the bottom of the sixth inning. Tulane’s Lex Kaplan singled to center field off Vogrin and then stole second base. One batter later, Hunter Hope singled in Kaplan from second to reclaim the lead, at 4-3.
Tulane would put the game out of reach in the seventh inning. Jack Czeszewski and Jeff Lindgren combined to give up five runs in the fifth inning. The big blow in the inning came on a three-run homer to left field from Hope, off Lindgren, giving the Green Wave an 8-3 cushion. Tulane tacked on one more run in the inning to bring the score to 9-3.
Illinois State got one more hit in the eighth inning from Kelch, but that would be the last hit of the game for the Redbirds as Tulane took the nightcap, 9-3.
Vogrin (0-2) was tagged with the loss after just one inning of work and one earned run. Tulane’s starter, Alex Massey, took the win after throwing seven innings of five-hit baseball.
Meade went five innings, gave up four hits and three earned runs. The junior struck out four and walked three. Kelch finished the game 3-for-4 with a home run.
The Redbirds will head back home and prepare to play Eastern Illinois at Duffy Bass Field Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.
