Jeremy Accardo hit a grand slam to help erase a 9-1 Creighton lead and spark a rally in game one of Illinois States doubleheader against Creighton Saturday at Redbird Field. Illinois State won the first game,11-10, however, the Birds dropped game two, 8-4.
With the split, Illinois States overall record stands at 6-8 with a 1-2 record in the Missouri Valley Conference, while Creighton sits at 5-13 overall and 2-1 in Valley play. In game one, Kyle Zaleski (2-0) picked up the win for the Redbirds in relief of Accardo, the Illinois State starter. Mike Quinlan (0-3) received the loss in game two for ISU in relief for starter Todd Stein.
Accardo finished 2-for-8 on the day with a run scored and five RBI, while Jon Peacock went 2-for-5 with two runs scored and two RBI. Kyle Zaleski went 2-for-3 in game one with two runs scored and two RBI. The Redbirds turned 10 hits into 11 runs in the first game, but only managed four runs on eight hits in the nightcap.
It was fun to rally in the first game, because it showed some character by our team, said Illinois State head coach Jim Brownlee. It was too bad we couldnt sustain our momentum into the second game. We just quit hitting and gave up a lot of runs to Creighton with two outs.
With the score 9-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Illinois State scored six runs led by the Accardo grand slam and a two-run homer by Jake Blair to narrow the Bluejay lead to two, 9-7. After a run by Creighton in the top of the sixth put the Jays up 10-7, the Redbirds bats continued to stay hot as Illinois State scored three more in the bottom of the sixth highlighted by a one-out double to right-center by Zaleski and then won the game in the bottom of the seventh with an RBI single to center field that scored Jay Molina from second.
Stein pitched well early in game two with Illinois State taking a 3-1 lead through five innings. Jeremy Pickrel scored from second in the first inning off a Accardo single to left field. Peacock scored on a double by Molina to the left-center gap in the third inning and Pickrel scored again in the fifth following an RBI single to left-center by Peacock.
With the score 4-3 heading into the eighth inning, Quinlan came in to relieve Stein and gave up three runs off of two hits in a third of an inning. Zaleski came in to close out the eighth, but gave up two more runs to Creighton in the ninth to help seal the Creighton victory.
Illinois State wraps up the four-game series against the Bluejays Sunday with a nine-inning game set to begin at 1 p.m. at Redbird Field.
