Normal, Ill. In his first start of the season, sophomore Eric Theisen pitched eight strong innings to help Illinois State defeat Indiana State 6-2 Saturday afternoon at Redbird Field. The win moves Illinois State above the .500 mark for the first time this season, as the Redbirds have won 11 of their last 15 games.
Theisen (5-0) worked his way out of jams throughout the afternoon as the sophomore scattered seven hits over eight innings and gave up only two earned runs while striking out five. Theisen has appeared in 20 games this season, yet Saturday was his first start of the year. Senior Brandon Gale came on to pitch a scoreless ninth in a non-save situation.
Taking the loss for Indiana State (25-21, 8-9) was Andrew Galle (2-7), who pitched seven innings and gave up five runs, although only one was earned.
The Redbirds (23-22, 7-10) picked up right where they left off on Friday as ISU plated four runs in bottom of the first inning. Jay Molina and Kyle O'Brien each had two-out, two-RBI singles in the inning as all of the Redbird runs were unearned off of Galle.
Indiana State would crack the scoring column in the third inning on a RBI single by Tyler Malone to make it 4-1. It appeared that the Sycamores would do more damage in the inning as they had the bases loaded with nobody out in the inning. However Theisen was able to work out of the inning by only allowing the one run.
Indiana State added another run in the top of the sixth but again the damage was minimal considering the first six batters of the inning reached first base. The only run of the inning came in on a Jake Eigsti single, but the Sycamores would leave the bases loaded again.
The 'Birds would add two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth when Jenkins brought home two runners with a one-out single up the middle, making it a 6-2 ISU lead.
The Redbirds will go for the sweep of Indiana State on Sunday, when the two teams play the third game of their series at 1 p.m. in a game that can be heard on www.wjbc2.com. Kitt Kopach (3-3) will make the start for ISU.
