March 29, 2006
Box Score
IOWA CITY, Iowa -
A 10-0 shutout at the hands of the Iowa Hawkeyes earlier in the season left a bad taste in the Illinois State baseball team's mouth. On Wednesday, the Redbirds got their revenge with a 7-3 mid-week victory against the Hawkeyes at Duane Banks field on the Iowa campus. Illinois State improves to 7-14 on the year, while Iowa falls to 10-8.
Luke Baughman (1-2) earned his first win of the season, after giving up just one run in three innings of work. Four other Redbird pitchers combined to help shut down the Hawkeyes, with Dan Frega, Brad Puntney, Dan Sorce and Mike Hlavacek finishing the game out on the mound. Iowa starter David Conroy earned the loss after giving up five earned runs in 4.2 innings of work.
Iowa struck first, scoring a run on one hit in the bottom of the second inning to take an early 1-0 lead. Catcher Dusty Napoleon reached on an infield single deep in the hole between shortstop and third base to lead off the inning and stole second base in the ensuing at bat. After a Jeff Engle groundout moved Napoleon to third with one out, Skyler Moss grounded out to Jesse Griswold at second base to push Napoleon across the plate for the first run of the game.
The Redbirds answered back in the top of the third to tie the score, manufacturing a run with two outs in the inning. Freshman Mike Stalowy took one for the team, as he was hit by a Conroy pitch to move down to first base. Stalowy then advanced to second on a wild pitch, leaving him in scoring position for Ryan Anetsberger. Anetsberger did not disappoint, as he laced a double into left field to bring in Stalowy and knot the score 1-1.
Jesse Griswold was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth inning and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kevin Dubler. Gabe DeMarco was up next and drove a long fly ball to center field that forced Iowa center fielder Nathan Price to make the catch against the wall and Griswold tagged up. But instead of Griswold tagging for just one base, third base coach Tim Brownlee waved in the junior second baseman around third base to score on a two-base sacrifice fly and put ISU up 2-1.
A four-run fifth inning by the `Birds would extend the ISU lead to 6-1. With the bases loaded, Dubler was hit by a pitch to force in Matt Bolt from third for the first run of the inning. With the bases still loaded, DeMarco drove the ball to right field for a double and cleared the bases to bring up his RBI total in the game to four and put the Redbirds up by five.
Kris Jenkins' RBI single in the top of the eighth inning that scored pinch-runner Brian Davis pushed the lead to 7-1 after seven and a half innings, but the Hawkeyes would battle back in the bottom half of the inning with two runs to cut the lead to 7-3 going into the ninth inning.
After a 1-2-3 Redbird ninth inning against Iowa closer Tim Gudex, Mike Hlavacek came on to finish out the game in a non-save situation and complete the ISU 8-3 victory. DeMarco's four RBI paced the Redbird offense, while Kevin Hoef and Jason White each contributed two hits in the game for Iowa.
The Redbirds return to action on Friday for the beginning of a Missouri Valley Conference series against the Indiana State Sycamores in Terre Haute, Ind. Junior Kitt Kopach (1-3, 2.30 ERA) will take the mound for the `Birds, with game time scheduled for 7 p.m. at Sycamore Field.
