By ISU Sports Information
NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Lipscomb earned a three-game series sweep of the Illinois State baseball team by virtue of an 8-3 win over the Redbirds Sunday at Ken Dugan Field.
Illinois State (5-12) tied the game with two runs in the top of the second inning, but the Redbirds struggled late against its opponent’s pitching staff, which limited the Redbird lineup to just a single run over the final seven innings. Lipscomb (11-8) got four perfect innings of relief pitching from Kyle Kemp.
The Lipscomb win secured a sweep for the Bisons, who won both games of Saturday’s doubleheader, by scores of 10-8 and 3-1, respectively.
Lipscomb put the first runs of the game on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first inning Sunday, when Zeke Dodson plated Michael Gigliotti with a sacrifice fly, moments before Jake Perry drove in the second run with a two-out single to left field.
The Redbirds wasted little time in getting the runs back, however, scoring two in the top of the second. Ryan Hutchinson produced Illinois State’s first run of the game with a sacrifice fly that scored Noah Sadler. Joe Aeilts later provided a two-out single to left that allowed Collin Braithwaite to score from second base.
The Bisons broke the tie with an RBI double from Dodson in the third and then tacked on two more in the fourth on a two-run single from Solomon.
Lipscomb added insurance late with three runs in the bottom of the seventh. The inning started with a solo home run from Allan Hooker, and continued with sacrifice flies from Dodson and Blake Thomas.
Neither team scored again until the top of the ninth, when Anthony Sanchez recorded the first hit and RBI of his Redbird career, to bring the game to its final score.
No Redbird collected multiple hits in Saturday’s game, although Owen Miller extended his hitting streak to nine games. For the second game in a row, Lipscomb’s pitching staff did not issue a walk.
Redbird starter Brady Huffman was tagged for five runs over the first 3.2 innings. Trevor Cross allowed three runs over the following three innings. Jeffrey Barton and Jack Bellinger turned in scoreless relief outings to finish out the game.
The Redbirds will take Monday off before returning to action Tuesday against in-state foe Illinois at Illinois Field in Champaign.
