Illinois scored six times in the first four innings and tacked on three insurance runs in the seventh to claim a 9-5 victory over Illinois State in non-conference baseball action from Redbird Field Tuesday.
Led by Brady Ballards three hits and four runs batted in, the Illini jumped all over ISU starter
Heath Heiberger (0-4) for five earned runs on seven hits and three walks in the first three innings.
Trailing 2-0 after a half inning, the Redbirds responded to the Illini attack with a run-scoring double to right field by the Missouri Valley Conferences leader hitter
Jared Dufault. The double plated
Jake Perganson, who reached on an error by Illini shortstop TF Meagher to start the inning.
The Illini tacked on another run in the second and two more in the third before Heiberger gave way to sophomore
Brian Horner. One of the top arms out of the Redbird bullpen, Horner stemmed the tied for two scoreless innings.
The Birds closed the gap to 6-4 with two runs in the fourth.
Ryan Cantrell sparked the rally with one of his five hits on the day, a leadoff triple to left field. Cantrell scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by freshman
Jeremy Accardo. A walk to
Scott Legan got the Birds back in business and a double to left by Perganson plated the speedy second baseman to give the Birds their second run of the inning.
After walking the leadoff man in the seventh, Horner was pulled in favor of senior
Steve Hecker, who normally works as ISUs No. 2 starter.
Another walk brought Illinois State head coach
Jeff Stewart to the mound and a confrontation with home plate umpire Ryan Jones. After a brief discussion, Jones issued Stewart his walking papers for arguing balls and strikes. After yet another walk, Ballard, smoked a double into the left center field gap which cleared the bases and gave the Illini a 9-5 advantage.
Slugger
Mike Saunches got the Redbirds going again in the seventh with a leadoff double to center which barely missed leaving the yard, he scored two batters later on a fielders choice by catcher
Greg Blaesing.
Despite out-hitting the Illini 13-11, the Birds were unable to capitalize on several scoring opportunities, leaving the bases loaded twice and stranding a total of 13 runners on base.
Defensively, we walk eight and hit three batters and allow 11 hits, while offensively we left 13 runners on base, a losing combination, said Stewart.
With the win, Illinois (17-15) dropped Illinois State (13-15) for the second time this season and the third time overall. Illinois claimed a 4-1 victory on March 3, at Louisville.
Derek Throneburg (1-0) tossed one and two-thirds scoreless innings out of the bullpen to earn his first victory of the year and Andy Dickinson, who earned a win over the Birds earlier this season, tossed one and a third scoreless innings to earn his second save.
Cantrell led the Redbird offense with a 5-for-5 performance at the plate, while Dufault chipped in three a 3-for-4 performance.
Illinois State hosts Western Illinois in a non-conference game Wednesday, April 10, at 7:00 p.m.
