By Illinois State Athletics
NORMAL – The Illinois State baseball team snapped a 10-game losing streak with a come-from-behind win over visiting Xavier Saturday at Duffy Bass Field. The Redbirds scored two runs in the bottom of the eighth and held the Musketeers scoreless in the ninth for a 6-5 win.
Illinois State (8-18) did not lead until the eighth inning, when Derek Parola and Sean Beesley strung together one-out singles. Joe Kelch then reached on a two-out infield single, but the throw to first was errant, allowing both Parola and Beesley to score.
Jack Landwehr, who had come on in relief in the top of the eighth, pitched a scoreless ninth to earn the win for the Redbirds.
Illinois State hit four triples in the win Saturday, after registering just one through the team’s first 25 games of the season. The win snapped a losing streak that started when the team returned from its annual trip to Florida.
Xavier (9-18) grabbed the lead in the fourth inning with a pair of unearned runs. Rylan Bannon singled to right field to score Blaine Griffiths for the game’s first run. David Morton scored moments later on an errant pickoff throw from Redbird starter David Meade.
The Musketeers tacked on two more in the fifth. Xavier put two men on base to chase Meade from the game, and both scored when Griffiths doubled down the left-field line off Redbird reliever Jack Czeszewski.
Illinois State got three runs back in the bottom of the fifth, as Parola walked to lead off the inning. Beesley tripled to right-center field to score Parola, and scored two batters later when Kelch tripled to left. Jean Ramirez then plated Kelch with a grounder to shortstop.
Xavier came back to score a run in the top of the seventh, when Chris Givin provided a two-out single up the middle to score Dan Rizzie, but the Redbirds got that run back in the bottom half when Daniel Dwyer tripled to score Kelch. Illinois State had the potential game-tying run cut down at the plate, however, as Dwyer tried to score on a grounder against a drawn-in infield.
The Redbirds took their first lead of the game, and their first of the series, in the bottom of the eighth. Parola singled through the right side and Beesley followed with a single through the left side. After Owen Miller struck out for the second out in the inning, Kelch singled to third base, and two runs came in on the errant throw to first.
Beesley and Kelch had two hits each for the Redbirds, as both tripled in the game, along with Dwyer and Ryan Hutchinson. The four triples in a game were the most for Illinois State in over two years.
Meade allowed four runs, only two of which were earned, over 4.2 innings. He walked four and struck out six. Czeszewski allowed one run over 1.1 innings before Jeff Lindgren tossed 1.2 scoreless frames. Landwehr finished it out, recording the final four outs without allowing a run.
The Redbirds return to Duffy Bass Field Sunday for the final game of the series against Xavier, beginning at 1 p.m. Sunday.
