Illinois State had its chances, but in the end poor fielding and the inability to get a timely hit spelled doom for the Redbirds, as they fell to No. 19 Florida State 6-3 Tuesday night at Dick Howser Field in Tallahassee, Florida. The game was interrupted by an 85-minute rain delay in the top of the fourth inning.
Jay Molina put the Redbirds on the board in the top of the first, as he took a 3-2 offering from FSU starter DiCarlo Thompson and sent it over the left-center field wall for a two-run homer, giving the Redbirds an early 2-0 lead.
Florida State wouldnt answer until the bottom of the third, when an RBI single by Eddy Martinez-Esteve made the score 2-1 in favor of Illinois State.
The rains would come in the top of the fourth inning, as ISU had runners on first and third with two out. Following an 85 minute rain delay, Florida State got out of the inning by getting a ground ball out. The rain would also cause Illinois State starter Todd Stein to leave the game.
In the bottom of the sixth, back-to-back RBI singles by Shane Robinson and Gibbs Chapman would give the Seminoles a 3-2 lead heading into the seventh.
In the top of the seventh, Illinois State would take advantage of a pair of FSU errors to tie the game at 3. Not to be denied, the Seminoles would score one in the bottom of the seventh to regain the lead at 4-3 and then tack on two more in the bottom of the eighth to give them a 6-3 winning margin.
Eric Theisen (0-1) took the loss for Illinois State (3-3), while Brian Schultz (2-0) got the win for Florida State (12-5).
Illinois State will next be in action on Wednesday, when they take on the Jacksonville Dolphins at Alexander Brest Field in Jacksonville, Florida. First pitch is set for 5:00 p.m. CST. Fans can listen in by dialing up AM 1230 WJBC on their radio dial, or logging on to www.wjbc.com. Greg Halbleib has the call of the action.
