April 30, 2006
Box Score
EVANSVILLE, Ind. -
With the series tied at one game apiece, the Illinois State Redbirds and the Evansville Purple Aces were both looking to gain a crucial series win in Sunday's finale of a three-game weekend set. Unfortunately for the Redbirds (15-27, 6-9 MVC), the game did not go according to plan and the Aces (27-19) ran away with a lopsided 16-2 mercy rule win over ISU at Braun Stadium.
Freshman Jim Sajewich (1-5) suffered the loss as the ISU starter, after allowing six earned runs in two and a third innings of work on the mound for the Redbirds. Ben Norton (6-3) earned the win for the Purple Aces, pitching in all seven innings for Evansville and giving just two runs on seven hits in the shortened contest.
ISU scored the first run of the game in the top of the third inning, to take an early 1-0 lead. Ryan Anetsberger led off the inning with a double to deep center field and then advanced to third base on a Kevin Dubler fly out to right field. Kris Jenkins then grounded out to Evansville second baseman Kyle Smith for the second out of the inning, but it was good enough to score Anetsberger and give the Redbirds the lead.
However, the Purple Aces would explode from there and put up sixteen runs in three innings to jump out to a 16-1 lead. The Aces scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning to gain the lead 4-1 at the time. The Aces would then put up three runs in the next inning to extend the lead to 7-1.
With the game still in reach heading into the fifth inning, Evansville collected nine hits and scored nine runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to balloon its lead to 16-1. Heading into the seventh inning, the Redbirds needed to score six runs to extend the game, but could only tally one run on a Matt Bolt triple that scored Chris Frank to bring the score to its final of 16-2.
Anetsberger was the only Redbird hitter with multiple hits in the game, as the sophomore finished 2-for-4 with a run scored. Bolt's triple in the seventh extended his hitting streak to eight games and gave him 18 RBI in his last 16 games. Wahl paced the Evansville offensive attack with three runs scored, three hits and four RBI. Each of the Evansville starters recorded a hit in the game and seven hitters had at least one RBI in the victory.
The Redbirds return to action on Tuesday, May 2, against cross-town rival Illinois Wesleyan for the annual Horenberger-Bass Classic. This year's contest will take place at 6 p.m. at Horenberger Field, after last year's contest took place at Redbird Field.
