By ISU Athletics Media Relations
PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Big days at the plate from Owen Miller and Jean Ramirez, and strong starting pitching from Steve Heilenbach and David Meade, helped the Illinois State baseball team to a doubleheader sweep of Central Michigan and Butler on its final day of play at the Snowbird Classic at North Charlotte Park.
Illinois State (7-8) beat Central Michigan by a 13-7 score in the opener, before earning a 9-2 victory over Butler in the nightcap.
Miller hit three home runs over the two games, while Ramirez homered against Central Michigan and doubled three times against Butler. Heilenbach was solid for 5.1 innings in the opener. Meade was even better in the nightcap, with seven shutout innings and a career-high nine strikeouts.
“It is really hard at the Division I level to win both games of a doubleheader, especially when the two teams you are playing are only playing one game that day,” said Illinois State head coach Bo Durkac. “Kudos to our guys, who really grinded through it. We played really good baseball. Any time you score 13 and nine in your two games, you’ve got a chance to win those with the starting pitching we had today.”
Illinois State 13, Central Michigan 7
A seven-run sixth inning helped Illinois State build an insurmountable lead in the opening game of its twin bill Saturday. The Redbirds held off a late rally by the Chippewas to earn a 13-7 win.
Miller led the charge for Illinois State, going 3-for-4 with a home run, two walks and four RBIs. Miller and Ramirez both homered for Illinois State in the sixth inning. Catcher Nick Zouras also had a big day, going 3-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs.
Zouras got things started for Illinois State with an RBI single in the second inning. The Redbirds added two more in the fourth, thanks to an RBI double from Derek Parola and a run-scoring single from Daniel Dwyer.
The seven-run sixth gave the Redbirds a 10-0 lead. A double from Zouras scored Parola to start the inning. Jared Hendren drove in the next two with a double to right field. Miller followed moments later with a three-run home run to left field. Two batters later, Ramirez cleared the left-field fence for the seventh run in the frame.
Central Michigan (3-11) got three runs back in the bottom of the inning, but Illinois State added two insurance runs in the top of the seventh with RBI singles from Ryan Hutchinson and Miller.
The Chippewas added single tallies in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively, before the Redbirds scored their final run in the top of the ninth when Dwyer scurried home on a wild pitch. Central Michigan plated two runs in the bottom of the ninth on a two-run double from Alex Borglin, but the Chippewas could do no more.
Heilenbach improved to 3-0 this spring, with 5.1 innings of work, in which he allowed three runs on six hits and three walks, while striking out four. Jeff Lindgren and Mitch Weis were each tagged with one unearned run in relief, while striking out two batters apiece. Mitch Vogrin pitched the ninth for the Redbirds and also struck out two batters.
Illinois State 9, Butler 2
Meade tossed seven shutout innings with a career-high nine strikeouts, while Miller and Ramirez provided the offensive punch to help the Redbirds to a 9-2 win in the nightcap of their doubleheader.
Meade allowed only three hits and one walk in the best start of his Illinois State career. Miller hit his second and third home runs of the day, while Ramirez went 4-for-5 with three doubles in the win.
Illinois State led wire-to-wire against Butler, as an RBI double from Hutchinson and an RBI single from Ramirez gave the Redbirds a 2-0 lead after the top of the first inning. The lead was increased to three with Miller’s third-inning home run to center field.
The Redbirds capitalized on a Butler error in the eighth to tack on an insurance run, but the Bulldogs got it back in the bottom half against reliever Jake Sale.
Illinois State ended all hopes of a Butler comeback in the top of the ninth, however, as the Redbirds added five runs to their tally. Miller led off the inning with his third home run of the day. Sean Beesley plated the second run in the inning on an infield single, and Hendren scored on a Butler error moments later. Dwyer chased in another run with a single up the middle, and later scored on a single from Joe Kelch.
Butler added one more run in the ninth off Illinois State reliever Rhett Rapshus, but that’s all the damage the Bulldogs could do in the final frame.
Ramirez and Kelch tallied half the Redbirds’ 16 hits, as each player collected four. Kelch and Miller recorded two hits each.
The Redbirds return to Wednesday when they travel to Saint Louis for a non-conference game. The game begins at 3 p.m. and links for live audio and stats can be found at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also receive live updates from the games via Twitter, by following @RedbirdBaseball.
