May 15, 2007
Box Score
MANHATTAN, Kan. -
With just four games remaining in the 2007 season, the Illinois State baseball team was looking to break a three-game losing streak on Tuesday night when it faced off against the Kansas State Wildcats. Unfortunately, the Redbirds (20-29) found hits hard to come by and dropped their fourth game in a row, as the Wildcats (33-19) earned a 10-3 victory at Tointon Stadium.
ISU starter Tyler Cox (3-1) suffered the loss for the Redbirds after allowing four runs, only three of which were earned, on five hits in five innings of work. However, reliever Dan Sorce was not quite as effective as he allowed six runs on six hits in the final three innings of the game. KSU starter A.J. Morris (4-1) earned the victory as he allowed just one run on one hit in six strong innings on the hill for the Wildcats.
Redbird head coach Jim Brownlee was pleased with Cox's performance, but was disappointed with the ways his team swung the bats against K-State.
"I was really happy with the way Tyler pitched tonight and I think he gave us a chance to win," said Brownlee. "Obviously we made some mistakes out of the bullpen and I would have liked to see the game stay closer. Early in the game we stole some bases and really kept the pressure on, but as the game went on we really struggled. We're just not swinging the bats the way we were earlier in the season and we are playing much different than we were three weeks ago."
The Redbirds wasted no time getting on the scoreboard, as they pushed a run across the plate in the top of the first inning to take an early 1-0. Tyler McNeely led off the game with a single and later stole second base while Matt Bolt was at bat. Bolt struck out and Kevin Dubler followed with a groundout that advanced McNeely to third base. Ryan Anetsberger then walked and was later caught stealing while McNeely scampered home for the first run of the game.
Kansas State got that run back in the bottom of the second inning to tie the game at 1-1 when Eli Rumler scored on a Tyler Link groundout to Kyle Cherney at second base. The Wildcats would then take the lead in the bottom of the fourth when Rumler scored from third base on a Cox wild pitch. KSU went on to put two more runs on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth inning to widen its lead to 4-1 and added its fifth run of the game in the bottom of the sixth inning to bring the score to 5-1.
The Wildcats scored two more runs in the bottom of the seventh inning, their fourth straight inning in which they scored runs, to take a 7-1 lead. ISU got one of those runs back in the top of the eighth inning on a one-out home run by Cherney, his second of the season, to cut the lead to 7-2. Collin Salzenstein followed with a walk to keep the rally going and then stole second base to give the `Birds a runner in scoring position. Then, as McNeely attempted to reach first base on a dropped third strike, Salzenstein advanced to third base and then came home on an errant throw by Tyler Ruch as he attempted to throw Salzenstein out at third for the third run of the game.
K-State fired right back with three runs in the bottom half of the inning to widen its lead to 10-3. That is where the score would stay, as ISU went down in order to finish out the game. Illinois State will now travel to Wichita, Kan., to face the No. 14 Wichita State Shockers for a three-game series beginning on Thursday at 7 p.m.
