The Illinois State baseball team scored six runs in the first three innings to support a dominant pitching performance by
Neal Cotts in an 8-3 season-opening victory at Western Kentucky Saturday.
Showing no signs of rust in their first game against live pitching, the 'Birds, 1-0, jumped all over the Hilltoppers, 2-4, with three runs in the first inning, three more in the third and solo runs in the sixth and eighth.
Sophomore
Ryan Cantrell set the tone for what would be a stellar day at the plate with a leadoff double down the left field line to start the game. Consecutive singles by
Ed Tolzien and
Jared Dufault plated Cantrell and a walk to junior college transfer,
Jon Peacock, loaded the bases for
Mike Saunches who drilled a two-run single into center field.
Cotts took the mound with a 3-0 lead and sent a clear message about who was in control of the game with five strikeouts in the first two innings. Cotts, who fanned 11 of 17 batters he faced, was dominant in five scoreless innings of work, allowing only one hit and one walk. The junior southpaw needed the defense behind him only four times in five innings as his left arm made quick work of the Hilltoppers.
"It felt good to get that first one out of the way and I'm glad it went the way it did," Cotts said. "It takes a lot of pressure off of the defense when I pitch like that, hopefully that's something we'll see a lot of this year."
ISU head coach
Jeff Stewart was impressed with the way his ace came out of the gates.
"It's very rare that you see a pitcher come out and dominate like that in the first game of the season," Stewart said. "We've had some great pitchers, and Cotts is a great pitcher, but I've never seen anything like that this early in the season."
Making his Redbird debut, Peacock made a solid impression on his teammates when his first swing of the year sent a towering homer over the fence in right field to leadoff the third inning. A walk to freshman catcher
Greg Blaesing and a beautiful hit-and-run single by fellow freshman
Jeremy Accardo set the table for Cantrell who cleared the bases with a two-run double to give the 'Birds a 6-0 lead.
Cantrell, who finished the day 3-for-4 with two doubles, two stolen bases, three runs scored and two runs batted in, was glad to get the first game out of the way.
"It was just nice to be outside hitting live pitching for the first time this year," Cantrell said. "We've been chomping at the bit to get the season started and it's great to see us come out the way we did."
Junior
Heath Heiberger gave the 'Birds four strong innings out of the pen, allowing three runs on five hits. Tolzien finished the day with three hits, including a run-scoring double off the top of the wall in right field in the sixth inning.
