The Illinois State baseball team jumped out to a 3-0 lead after one inning only to watch Evansville rattle off 10 unaswered runs, including seven in the decisive fifth inning, to defeat the Redbirds 15-7 in the opening game of the Sprint Broadband Missouri Valley Conference Baseball Championship at Eck Stadium-Home of Tyler Field.
Evansville (35-19) scattered 13 hits off three Redbird pitchers and took advantage of five ISU errors, two wild pitches and two hit batsman in winning for the 15th time in the last 19 contests. Purple Aces catcher Matt Serafini led UE at the plate going 3-for-3 with a home run, four RBI and three runs scored. Serafini's two-run shot, his seventh of the season, came in the bottom of the eighth frame with one on and one out.
Three other UE players collected a pair of hits. First baseman Wes Davis and left fielder Brian Wegman each went 2-for-3 while starting pitcher Vince Serafini was 2-for-5. Serafini picked up the win on the mound for the Purple Aces, going eight innings and allowing seven runs (all earned) on 11 hits with two strikeouts and two walks. UE shortstop Wes Carroll's only hit of the game placed him among some elite company in The Valley. Carroll's two-out double in the bottom of the first tied Wichita State baseball standout Joe Carter's for fifth place on the all-time MVC doubles list with 74.
Illinois State (31-21) scored four of its seven runs in the game off home runs. Designated hitter Mike Saunches launched a three-run shot, his team-leading 12th home run of the season, in the top of the first inning for a Redbird 3-0 lead. Saunches led the Redbirds at the plate, going 4-for-4 with three singles in addition to the home run for the game. Redbird right fielder Jared Dufault had the other four-bagger, hitting a solo lead-off shot in the top of the sixth frame. First baseman Ed Tolzien and third baseman Jon Peacock both had a pair of hits for ISU, going 2-for-3 at the plate.
ISU starting pitcher Neal Cotts took the loss as he gave up eight runs (six earned) on nine hits to fall to 8-3 for the season. Cotts also struck out five UE players, which gave him 113 for the season, second all-time on the ISU single-season strikeout list behind James Goff, who retired 134 batters during the 1934 season.
With the win, Evansville advances to the winner's bracket and will play at 7 p.m. on Thursday, May 17, against the winner of No. 2 seeded Wichita State (42-22) and No. 5 seeded Northern Iowa (30-26).
Illinois State drops down to the loser's bracket and will play at 11 a.m. against No. 6 Indiana State which upset No. 1 Southwest Missouri State 6-4. The Redbirds took three-of-four game against the Sycamores at Redbird Field earlier this year.
Postgame Quotes
Illinois State head coach Jeff Stewart: "You have to pitch and play defense to win, and we didn't do a very good job of either today. Cotts was throwing for the first time on four days rest. He had a pretty high pitch count on Friday, and I could immediately when he got on the mound that he didn't have his best stuff, but I still liked our chances because he is our number one guy in terms of competitiveness and those kinds of things."
"Mike hit the big fly in the first inning to give us the lead and I think we're probably still playing out there and playing well if we get the bang-bang in the first on the double play."
On Evansville's errors and hits:
"Well the hits, most of them were singles; a couple were infield hits, a couple were bleeders. They scored on a sac fly that we caught over towards the wall. All the little things aside, what disappointed me was that we gave them so many opportunities."
Illinois State starting pitcher Neal Cotts:
"I didn't have that much zip on my fastball, and I had to depend on off-speed pitches to get them over the plate for strikes, so that put me at a disadvantage right away."
I don't know if it's tired, I just didn't have the pop on my fastball, and that's usually my best pitch so I had to work around that, and it didn't work out the best."
Mike Saunches on Evansville's seven-run inning:
"Nobody expects Neal not to pitch good, not even him, but sometimes it's going to happen no matter who you are."
Evansville head coach Jim Brownlee:
"You don't ever expect 22 runs to be scored in the first game with two good pitchers throwing, and I think the good sign for us was that we swung the bats good and executed good. They got off to a good start, and I was happy with our perseverance that we didn't fold the tent right there, we just got right at it and stepped it up, and we scored a couple. Vince, I don't know how many in a row he retired from the second to the fifth, but I thought that was the big momentum shift."
"I think our hitters did a great job of laying off his pitches, because he's one of the best in the country, and I really like Neal, but he just didn't have his fastball today."
Brownlee on pitcher Vince Serafini's first inning giving up three runs:
"I would never pull Vince. It's better to have in the first that in the ninth, because you have nine more at-bats, and we've been swinging it pretty good. We're going to be able to score some runs, and you're just hoping Vince can right the ship. When we got them out in the second, I was feeling pretty good, and then we got them out in the third and the fourth. He's hard to get off the mound. He does a great job for us."
Starting pitcher Vince Serafini:
"I'm glad that we scored 15 runs, because all I had was a fastball. It helps every once in a while."
Matt Serafini on UE's seven-run inning:
"We just locked in all inning and they made a couple of mistakes, and we just had good at-bats. We had to roll to make Cotts work, and we did that, and he got just a little tired then and we locked into that inning."
"We knew he was pitching on four days, and we just wanted to make him work. We know we can hit, we just have to be locked in to every single pitch."
