Led by solid pitching from Brandon Gale and Josh Eidt, the Illinois State White team won game one of the 2004 Media World Series Tuesday at Redbird Field by a score of 2-1 in seven innings. Illinois State Hall of Fame member and former head baseball coach Duffy Bass served as the manager for the White team, and Greg Halbleib of AM 1230 WJBC took the loss for the Red as the manager of the team.
Both teams got outstanding pitching performances on the day. Ned Schauff started the game for the Red squad and pitched four innings of three-hit ball, striking out five in a no-decision. Gale started the game for the White team and pitched three innings, yielding only one hit and recording three strikeouts.
Picking up the win for the White team was the freshman Eidt, who allowed only three hits and had three strikeouts. Sophomore Dan Frega took the loss for the Red team, as he allowed two unearned runs in the bottom of the fifth. Eric Theisen came on to pick up the save for the White squad.
We got really good pitching for the first day, said Redbird head coach Jim Brownlee. We didnt hit it as well as wed like but the pitching was pretty good. The White team didnt win the game as much as the Red team lost it, but thats baseball.
The Red team got on the board first in the top of the second inning, as Nick Crist scored on a wild pitch by Gale.
The score remained 1-0 until the bottom of the fifth, when Jake Milligan scored from first base on a throwing error by Jay Molina, who was trying to get Lee Fischer at first on a ground ball. Fisher advanced all the way to third on the play. After Halbleib pulled the infield in with a runner on third and one out, Bass dipped into his bag of tricks and put a squeeze play on for Chris Frank. With Fischer charging home, Fregas pitched bounced past the catcher allowing the eventual game-winning run to score.
Halbleib, who moves to 1-1 lifetime in the Media World Series, said his team could never get the offense going.
We just couldnt manufacture that last run, said Halbleib, the WJBC Sports Director. We tried to be aggressive but we just struggled at the plate.
Despite the loss, Halbleib still enjoyed the experience.
This is my second year and I had a great time once again, Halbleib said. I wouldve liked to win, but it was a lot of fun just to be around this great group of kids.
The two teams will be back at it again tomorrow in game two. Scott Robbins, a baseball fanatic and morning host on 99.5 The Eagle, will manage one team, while Steve Wartman, sportswriter of the Daily Vidette, will be the skipper of the other. First pitch is set for 3:30 at Redbird Field.
