When a pitcher has a good night, baseball people will say that he was lights out. In that case, Kyle Bloom made it a very dark evening for the Indiana State Sycamores Friday, as Bloom struck out a season-high 11 batters and pitched the Redbirds to a 7-0 win at Sycamore Field in Terre Haute, Indiana. Offensively, Jay Molina, Nick Crist and Brian Wilkin each had two RBI to help the Redbirds stay alive in the conference race.
Bloom (5-6) was as dominant as ever in the win, as the left-handed junior gave up only three hits and walked two in the win. He also took a one-hitter into the seventh inning of the contest. Josh Kauten came on to record the final three outs of the game, as he struck out the side in the ninth.
Taking the loss for Indiana State was Joe Thatcher, who falls to 4-6 on the year. Thatcher went 6 1/3 while giving up seven earned runs and recording six strike outs.
Illinois State (18-29, 8-17) got on the board first, as they plated two in the top of the second inning. Molina led off the inning with a triple to right-center and after Matt Bolt was hit by a pitch, Molina would come in to score on a sac fly by Crist. With two outs, Wilkin had a base hit to right to drive in Bolt and give Illinois State a 2-0 lead after the top of the fourth.
The Birds would really turn up the heat in the top of the seventh, when the first five batters reached base, helping the Redbirds put up a five-spot in the inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, Molina hit a two-RBI single down the leftfield line to extend ISUs lead to 4-0. Crist would hit another sac fly to make it 5-0 and Luke Baughman would follow with a RBI single up the middle to make it 6-0. Not done yet, Wilkin would single to right with one out and bring in Bolt to give ISU their final run of the inning, making 7-0.
Illinois State and Indiana State (18-30, 10-15) will resume their four game series on Saturday, when they play a doubleheader, with the first pitch of game one set for 2:00 p.m. Todd Stein will take the mound in game one for Illinois State, while freshman Dan Frega will make the start in game two. Gametracker will be available to follow along with the live-scoring at www.redbirds.org.
Illinois State is playing this weekend and the rest of the season without starting shortstop Joe Peterson and starting outfielder Matt Standish. Peterson is no longer with the team due to academic reasons, while Standish has decided to leave the team.
