For the third time in the last five games, the Illinois State baseball team was down to its final strike in the ninth and just like they have done in each of the other two games, the Redbirds found a way to pull out a win. ISU scored three runs in the top of the ninth inning and Kris Jenkins made a game-saving catch in the bottom of the ninth to help Illinois State defeat Illinois 4-3 in Champaign on Tuesday night.
It was Illinois States (17-18) fifth straight win, their longest streak under head coach Jim Brownlee. The last time ISU won four straight was in April 2002. The Redbirds are now 3-1 against Big Ten opponents on the year.
Sophomore Luke Baughman made the start for Illinois State and received a no decision. He pitched well over 4.2 innings, allowing only three hits and two earned runs. Sophomore Eric Theisen (4-0) came on to pitch the final two innings of the game for the win, allowing four hits and striking out two.
Taking the loss for Illinois (20-11-1) was James Morris (1-1), who allowed three unearned runs in the top of the ninth.
Illinois would get on the board first in the fourth inning as Ryan Rogowski and Chris Robinson had back-to-back hits, putting runners on the corners with one out. Illini first baseman Dusty Bensko would then ground out to third, bringing in Rogowski and giving Illinois a 1-0 lead after four.
The Illini would add another run in the fifth, knocking Baughman out in the process. With one out, Shawn Roof was hit by a pitch and then moved up to second on a ground out. Kitt Kopach then came on in relief of Baughman and the first batter he saw was J.R. Keyes, who doubled to left, scoring Roof from second and giving Illinois a 2-0 lead.
The Redbirds would get on the board in the top of the seventh as Lee Fischer hit a sac fly to right to score OBrien from third and make it a 2-1 game. ISU missed a golden opportunity in the eighth however, as they had runners on second and third with one out and failed to score.
The Redbirds would stage their rally in the top of the ninth, much like they have done over the past week. Pinch-hitter Kevin Konsler led the inning off with a single up the middle. He would then steal second and advance to third on the play on a throwing error on the Illini catcher. With a 1-2 count on Chris Frank, Morris threw a wild pitch, allowing Konsler to score and tie the game at two. Frank would reach on a throwing error on the Illinois third baseman and would come into score on a double by Jay Molina. After Matt Bolt singled to put runners on the corners, Molina would come into score on an errant pick off attempt by Morris, allowing Bolt to go to third and giving ISU a 4-2 lead after the top of the ninth.
Illinois would not go quietly in the ninth as they loaded the bases with one out and got it to 4-3 on an RBI by Robinson. With the bases still loaded Dusty Bensko lined to center where Jenkins made a tremendous, fully-extended diving catch. The Illini runner at third would have scored easily to tie the game up, but the runner at second had strayed to far off base on the caught fly ball. Jenkins alertly jumped to his feet and doubled off the runner at second, beating the runner heading home by only a step to preserve the 4-3 win.
The Birds will look to make it six in a row this weekend when they play three games at Bradley. The first game of the series will be Friday night at 6:00 p.m. from OBrien Field in Peoria. Matt Fowles (3-2) will make the start for Illinois State.
