Chris Frank, Nick Crist and Kris Jenkins each had three hits and Luke Baughman picked up his second win of the year as Illinois State defeated Eastern Illinois 6-2 on a windy day at Coaches Stadium in Charleston, Ill.
Picking up the win for Illinois State (19-20) was the sophomore Baughman (2-2). He went six innings and allowed six hits and one earned run while striking out two. ISU sophomore Kitt Kopach pitched the seventh and eighth innings for the Redbirds and allowed only one hit and one unearned run. Eric Theisen came on to pitch a scoreless ninth inning in a non-save situation.
Taking the loss for Eastern Illinois (9-31) was senior Ted Juske (0-8). Juske pitched the first three innings and allowed six hits and one earned run.
The Panthers got on the board first in the game as Jason Cobb doubled in Erik Huber to give EIU a 1-0 lead after one.
Illinois State would respond with two runs in the top of the second inning in the following a run-scoring groundout by Jim Kulovitz and a RBI single by Blake Schoonover. The Birds had a chance to do some more damage in the inning, however Matt Bolt grounded out with the bases loaded to the inning.
The Redbirds would add three more runs in the fifth inning as they would send eight batters to the plate. Crist had an RBI single to bring in Ryan Anetsberger and Schoonover would single with the bases loaded to bring in two runs and give ISU a 5-1 lead.
Eastern would score one unearned run off of Kopach in the seventh but another RBI single by Crist in the top of the ninth boosted the Redbird lead back to four, making it a 6-2 game.
Illinois State will next be in action on Friday night when they resume Missouri Valley Conference play against the Northern Iowa Panthers. First pitch from Waterloo Riverfront Stadium will be at 6:30 p.m.
