Steve Hecker won his fourth straight pitching decision backed by seven early runs in the first game and Illinois State notched its third 30-win season in four years while splitting a doubleheader with Bradley, winning 9-3 and losing 10-3.
The Birds, 30-20, 16-11 in the Valley, scored seven runs in the first two innings to dominate game one. Bradley, 16-36, 8-21, took the second game with the help of some Redbird misplays in the field.
In game one, the Birds sent 17 men to the plate in the first two innings, with
Ed Tolzien collecting three RBI on two singles, while
Jared Dufault and
Ryan Cantrell both had run-scoring doubles against loser Steve Ellis (3-7).
With a single, a double and two walks, Dufault raised his league-leading average to .411 after the first game, but the Braves held him hitless in game two, dropping his average to .398.
Hecker (9-3) limited the Braves to six hits. Over his last five starts, Hecker has struck out 25 in 32 2/3 innings and has a 1.10 earned run average over that period. The victory brings him within one of the Redbird single-season record for pitching victories; Henry Irish OReilly had 10 for the Redbirds in 1966 and Bob Reibel matched that in 1984.
Illinois State built an 8-1 lead on its way to its fourth straight victory and its 13th in 15 games with the help of five walks and two hit batsmen in the first four innings.
We wanted to get deep into the counts early against Ellis, said ISU head coach
Jeff Stewart. Last year, he was unhittable against us and our plan was to try and get him to throw some pitches early. We lost our focus offensively after the early innings, but we built enough of a lead to get through it. Hecker had a great outing which would have shown up better in the box score if we had made some plays we didnt make.
Game two saw
Neil Johnson (4-3), who had pitched well recently, struggle with his control and depart after three innings trailing 4-1. Bradley had seven hits, while Johnson walked two, hit a batter and threw a wild pitch.
Johnson gave way to
Brian Horner , who pitched three scoreless innings before Bradley reached him for a pair of runs in the seventh with the help of an error. Errors, wild pitches and misplays helped the Braves add four more runs off
David Schoeberlein before ISU scored one in the ninth.
The second game was fundamentally poor defense on our part, said Stewart. We didnt make plays, and we didnt throw strikes.
ISUs first two runs were unearned. Cantrell walked leading off the third, went to second on a ground out, to third on a passed ball and scored on Mike Saunches single. In the fifth, Saunches was safe on an error after two out and raced home on Tolziens double. Jason Scherer drowe in the final tally with a ground ball in the ninth.
Freshman catcher
Greg Blaesing had two of the six Redbird hits in game two.
Illinois State and Bradley end the regular season with a single game on Sunday.
