Oct. 6, 2006
NORMAL, Ill. -
With the best-of-three series tied at one game apiece, two teams of Illinois State baseball players were battling for bragging rights in the third and final game of the 2006 Media World Series on Friday at Redbird Field. The game went down to the wire, however the home team in white uniforms pulled out a 3-2 victory in its final at bat to win the game and the series two games to one.
Mike Hlavacek earned the win in relief for the home team, after throwing two scoreless innings and finishing the game on the mound. Luke Baughman suffered the loss, as he gave up the go-ahead run in the bottom of the seventh inning and gave up three hits while striking out two batters.
The grey team jumped out to the early lead, scoring two runs in the top of the first inning off of the white team's starter, Tyler Cox. With one out in the inning, Kevin Dubler's singled and scored Collin Salzenstein from second base for the first run of the game. After a Gabe DeMarco single advanced Dubler to second base, both players advanced a base on a wild pitch to give the grey team two runners in scoring position. Kyle O'Brien then grounded out to second to score Dubler from third base and put the visiting team up 2-0 early.
A sacrifice fly to center field in the bottom of the third inning by Kevin Konsler scored Ryan Anetsberger and put the white squad back in the game at 2-1. The home team would then tie the game in the bottom of the fifth inning on a Joe Burke RBI single that scored Anetsberger to tie the score at 2-2.
The game would stay tied until the bottom of the seventh, when the white team would secure the victory. Anetsberger led off the inning with a double off the wall in left field. Konsler then reached base on a throwing error by Nick Crist at third base and Konsler and Anetsberger both advanced a base on the errant throw. With runners on second and third and nobody out, Baughman intentionally walked Mike Domenick to get to Mike Huling. Huling then became the hero as he singled to right field to drive in the go-ahead run and give the white team a 3-2 victory.
Huling finished the game 3-for-3 with an RBI and Anetsberger scored two runs in the win for the white squad. DeMarco paced the grey squad with two hits.
Head coach Jim Brownlee was impressed with the final game and the three-game series throughout the week.
"I thought it was a very competitive game today and was a good wrap-up to our fall workouts," said Brownlee. "I think we have improved ourselves on the mound and our overall team speed. This week also showed us that we are going to have some competition for positions in the spring and allowed us to evaluate our new players. We have a long way to go, but I think all three games of the series were very competitive and that means we have some good depth on our team."
With fall practices and scrimmages over, alumni weekend is the final fall event for the Redbird baseball team. The weekend, which coincides with Illinois State's Homecoming festivities, begins with an alumni golf outing on Friday, October 13, at El Paso Country Club and concludes on Saturday, October 14 with the annual Alumni Game at Redbird Field.
