Oct. 2, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
The Illinois State baseball team has been busy this fall practicing and preparing for the upcoming 2007 season. On Monday, the annual Media World Series kicked off to continue the fall workouts for the Redbirds, and home team came out on top, 3-0, in a seven inning, intra-squad scrimmage at Redbird Field.
The Media World Series is a chance for local media in the Bloomington-Normal community to get an early look at the Redbird baseball team before the season begins. The series is made up of a best-of-three series, with the series continuing with games on Wednesday and Friday if necessary.
Sophomore Dan Sorce notched the victory for the white squad, as he allowed just two hits while striking out two in three scoreless innings of work. Senior Mike Hlavacek came in to shut out the grey team and struck out a batter to earn the save. Senior Luke Baughman suffered the loss against his teammates in the white uniforms, giving up three earned runs in three innings of work.
The grey squad's guest media manager, Randy Reinhardt of The Pantagraph, was disappointed with the loss and now falls to 3-2 all-time in the Media World Series.
"It was a frustrating day," said Reinhardt. "The white team threw some really good pitchers out there and got the job done. They pitched awfully well and we just couldn't get the big hit."
However, Reinhardt was impressed with his starter, freshman Ryan Copeland.
"This was the first time I have seen Copeland pitch and he got out a couple of jams and made some big pitches against veteran hitters at the plate today," said Reinhardt. "He looks like somebody who is really going to help this team in the near future."
The white team got on the board first in the bottom of the fourth inning. Junior Ryan Anetsberger led off the inning with a stand-up double down the right field line and later advanced to third base on a Kevin Konsler ground out. Senior Joe Burke then singled up the middle to plate Anetsberger and give the white squad the, 1-0, after four innings.
The home team would then score two more runs to put the game away in the bottom of the fifth inning. Sophomore Mike Tokarski's RBI triple down the right field line scored Mike Domenick for the first run of the inning. Mike Stalowy followed with a sacrifice fly to right field and scored Tokarski to make the lead, 3-0.
When all was said and done, Reinhardt enjoyed his day at the park and the unusually warm weather for October.
"This is always a great time to come out here and see some college baseball in October," said Reinhardt. "It's also good to see the new freshmen and newcomers in action and get a chance to catch up with the veterans."
Wednesday's guest media managers are Greg Halbleib of AM 1230 WJBC and Scott Robbins of 99.5 FM, The Eagle. First pitch is scheduled for 4 p.m.
