NASHVILLE, Tenn.- Illinois State pounded 14 hits and Dan Savas worked six scoreless innings as Illinois State won its season-opener, 9-1, Saturday night against Butler. The contest was played in Nashville's E.S. Rose Park, in a neutral-site game, after Illinois State's scheduled three-game series at Murray State was cancelled due to poor weather.
Savas (1-0) struck out five Bulldogs and allowed no runs on two hits with one walk to secure his first win of the season. Joe Claver, David Suarez and Brock Stewart all saw relief action for Illinois State, with Suarez fanning two batters in two scoreless innings of work. Brock's scoreless ninth inning was his first pitching appearance since 2012. He added two strikeouts. Butler starter Eric Stout (0-1) earned the loss after allowing four earned runs in four innings of work.
Dennis Colon led Illinois State with three hits and three runs batted in. Cody Voelker, Mike Hollenbeck, Brian Rodemoyer and Stewart each tallied two hits apiece and the Redbirds out-hit Butler, 13-4.
After Savas retired the first six Bulldogs he faced, Illinois State got on the board first with a two-run second inning. Hollenbeck opened the frame with a single and advanced to second on Voelker's walk. With two outs, Colon knocked a single down the right field line, scoring Hollenbeck and Voelker to give Illinois State a 2-0 advantage. It was the first hit and RBI for Colon, who was making his first-career start for Illinois State. In all, five players appeared in their first-career game for the Redbirds.
ISU added a run on Rodemoyer third inning RBI-triple and Colon contributed a run-scoring double in the fourth, making it 4-0 Illinois State going into the fifth inning.
Stout gave way to Billy Laing to open the bottom of the fifth inning and the Redbirds took advantage of a pair of Butler errors to collect five runs in the frame. Snyder, Logan Leverett and Sean Beesley each registered one RBI and Voelker added a two-run single to build the Illinois State lead to 9-0 after five innings.
Savas, pitching in front of a dozen Major League scouts, retired the last seven batters he faced and secured his 14th career-victory as a Redbird.
Claver opened the seventh inning and walked the bases loaded. Suarez then entered and retired all three batters he faced, with the lone Butler run scoring on a Pat Guinane sacrifice-fly. Suarez fired a scoreless eighth inning and Stewart finished things off in the ninth.
The Redbirds return to action to complete the two-game non-conference schedule Sunday in Nashville. First pitch versus Butler is slated for 10 a.m. and Dylan Craig will make his season-debut on the mound for the Redbirds.
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