The Illinois State baseball team swept to an 8-2 win over Western Kentucky in the opener before the hosts pulled out a 6-5 win in 10 innings in the nightcap of a doubleheader Sunday.
Mike Saunches drove in three runs with a double and a single,
Jared Dufault collected three singles,
Jeremy Accardo had a two-run single and
Ryan Cantrell tripled for the Redbirds (2-1) in their win.
The game was close until the ninth when ISU scored five times. Winning pitcher
Steve Hecker (1-0) limited Western Kentucky to just one run on five hits over the first five innings before relievers
Todd Stein and
Brian Horner mopped up. Horner earned his first save.
The second game was a seesaw battle. Western Kentucky (3-5) took a 2-0 lead in the first inning but the Redbirds answered with two runs of their own in the top of the second on a two-run single by
Jim Chiappetta.
The hosts regained the lead in the bottom of the inning on a sacrifice fly, but Illinois State went up 4-3 in the fourth. Ryan Cantrell singled home one run and the other came home on
Ed Tolzien's fielder's choice.
Once again, Western Kentucky answered, this time with single runs in the fourth and fifth innings to go up 5-4.
ISU then knotted the score in the seventh on
Scott Legan's RBI single.
Neither team scored in the eighth or ninth innings, but the hosts came through in the bottom of the 10th. With two outs, Luis Rodriguez singled home David Lower, who had been hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a Tanner Townsend's single to right center.
ISU's fourth pitcher of the day,
Tim Boyer (0-1), suffered the pitching loss. Starter
Dave Schoeberlein was roughed up, allowing four runs on five hits in three innings. But relievers
Kyle Zaleski and
Neil Johnson held Western Kentucky at bay over the next five innings, giving up just one unearned run on three hits.
Western Kentucky's third pitcher, Brian Houdek (2-0), got credit for the pitching win. He was perfect for 1.1 innings.
