One day after Illinois State knocked its archrival Bradley out of Missouri Valley Conference Tournament contention, the Braves returned the favor behind the arm of Brandon Magee with a 5-3 win over ISU Saturday at Redbird Field.
The loss ended the season for both clubs as the Redbirds finished 21-34 overall and 11-21 in the conference compared to the Braves 29-26-1 overall record and an 11-20-1 league mark.
Magee sealed the Redbirds fate, by going nine strong innings. He only allowed six hits and three runs, all earned, while striking out seven for his first complete game of the season.
We had our opportunities, but couldnt get any timely hitting, head coach Jim Brownlee said. We had our chances late in the game, but Magee was tough and I give Bradley all the credit. We just didnt do enough to put pressure on (Magee) and capitalize.
After the start of the game was delayed 33 minutes by a rain delay, the ballgame was halted again in the top of the second inning with a 23-minute rain delay. When play resumed, the Braves took advantage of two Luke Baughman errors and scored two runs in the second, all without bagging a hit.
The Braves took their 2-0 lead into the top of the fourth and added another pair of runs with both scoring after two outs. Jason Newburger singled in a run and scored on a hit by Rene Aqueron. Illinois State tried to make a play on Newburger at third, but Matt Bolts throw got away from Baughman, allowing Newburger to come into score and gave the Braves a 4-0 lead.
Ryan Curry doubled to lead off the fifth for Bradley and knock Zaleski out of the game. Josh Kauten came on in relief and got out of the inning with a pair of strikeouts, but Curry was able to score and put the Braves up 5-0 after the top of the fifth.
The Redbirds woke up the bats in the bottom half of the fifth, as Nate Whitney doubled in Greg Blaesing and Jeremy Pickrel to make it 5-2 Braves after five.
Matt Bolt led off the sixth inning for ISU with a double to left center and Nick Crist singled in Bolt, cutting the Redbird deficit to 5-3. But that was as close as the Redbirds would get.
Kauten held the Braves at bay and was particularly impressive in the seventh and eight innings. The right-hander from Vinton, Iowa struck out the side in the seventh and with the bases loaded in the eighth, struck out Brian Meishcner to end the inning. Kauten pitched the games last five innings and only allowed four hits without a run, while striking out seven.
