Ryan Cantrell, the Missouri Valley Conferences leading hitter, had two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs as Illinois State scored six runs in the first three innings on the way to a 7-3 win over Illinois Tuesday at Illinois Field.
Later on Cantrell came in from his regular centerfield spot to pitch a scoreless ninth and nail down the win for freshman
Kyle Zaleski (1-0), who earned his first victory in his first college start. Zaleski, who worked three innings Saturday against St. Xavier, surprised ISU head coach
Jeff Stewart with five strong innings, leaving with a 6-1 lead in the sixth after surrendering his only walk.
We didnt know how long Kyle would be able to go tonight, said Stewart, whose Redbirds are 21-17 with their fifth straight win, the longest winning streak of the season. We thought wed only get a couple of innings out of him, but he looked good and one or two innings turned into five.
Cantrell, hitting .420 after his 2-4 effort at Illinois, doubled to start the game and went to third on
Jake Pergansons infield single.
Jared Dufault plated both with a triple, his 17th of his career, just one short of Redbird career leader Lynn Wade, who had 18 from 1979 to 1983.
After Illinois (20-23) scored a run in the bottom of the first, ISU came right back with three more runs while routing Illini starter and loser Reilly Smith. Again, Cantrell was in the middle of the rally, driving in the first two runs with a triple and scoring the third. ISU went up 6-1 in the third when
Greg Blaesing drove in
Ed Tolzien with a single.
The Redbird bullpen registered four scoreless innings.
Brian Horner pitched the sixth and seventh, while
Todd Stein pitched a perfect eighth before Cantrell finished.
Stewart thought his teams offense could have been more consistent.
Our hitters sometimes drift in and out, said Stewart, whose team had 11 hits against Illinois. They are in focus when they get to the park. They are in focus when theyre scoring runs, but after jumping out to a big lead, they got unexcited and lost their focus.
But Stewart is glad his team has won five straight heading into its Missouri Valley weekend series with Indiana State, which starts Friday at 6:30 p.m. at Redbird Field.
Anytime youre going into a conference series, you want to have as much momentum as possible, said Stewart. This win, and what we did last weekend (a four-game sweep of St. Xavier), will certainly help us in that regard. This was a big win in that Illinois had beaten us twice this year and weve proven that we can beat them.
