Oct. 4, 2005
NORMAL, Ill. -
Box Score
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Greg Halbleib of WBJC radio in Bloomington stepped away from the microphone for a day and led the Illinois State red team to an 8-4 victory in game one of the fourth-annual Redbird Baseball Media World Series at Redbird Field on Tuesday. Scott Robbins of 99.5 "the Eagle" took the loss as the skipper for the red squad against his broadcast counterpart.
Junior Eric Theisen earned the win for the red squad allowing four runs on six hits, with only one of the runs being earned in four innings of work. Junior Kitt Kopach was saddled with the loss for the white squad after giving up six earned runs in two innings. Freshman Dan Sorce also recorded his first save in a Redbird uniform, coming in for an inning and a third of no-hit work.
The red squad, led by senior captains Kris Jenkins and Blake Schoonover, jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning off Kopach. Newcomer Darren McEvilly led off the inning with a dreaded lead-off walk and advanced to third on the at-bat, when junior Matt Bolt singled. With two on and no one out, sophomore Ryan Anetsberger came to the plate and singled in McEvilly for the first run of the day and advanced Bolt to third. Bolt then scored as Jenkins grounded into a double play and took the score to 2-0.
However, the white team and senior captains Jay Molina and Chris Frank got one back in the top of the second inning after junior Nick Crist doubled to lead off the inning. Sophomore Mike Kelley then singled on the next at-bat to score Crist from second and get the red team closer 2-1. But the white team would come back in the bottom of the second, highlighted by a three-run homerun by Anetsberger to bring the score to 7-1 at the end of two innings.
The red team got three runs back in the top of the fourth inning to bring the score closer at 7-4. After junior transfer Jesse Griswold led off the inning with a single, Crist singled and advanced Griswold to third. Kelley then reached base on a throwing error by Schoonover at short and scored Griswold from first. With runners on second and third and no-outs, sophomore Kevin Konsler singled to center field to score Crist and Kelley.
Schoonover scored on a Bolt sacrifice fly to center in the bottom of the sixth to record the final run of the day and bring the score to its final at 8-4. "Coach" Halbleib, now 2-1 in his managerial duties in the Media World Series, was happy with his opportunity to coach and his team's win.
"I love coming out here and I love that the team lets me get involved in some decisions during the game," said Halbleib. "Theisen gave us some good innings on the hill to start the game and we put together a great second inning."
WJBC news director Colleen Reynolds joined Halbleib as bench coach for the red squad and was impressed with her first experience in the Media World Series.
"I was really impressed with what I saw today," said Reynolds. "The pitching was pretty outstanding today and it was great for my first time out here."
Game 2 of the Media World Series pitts Randy Reinhardt of the Pantagraph against a manager to be named later. Seven innings will be played again tomorrow with the first pitch being thrown at 3:30 p.m. at Redbird Field.
