WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Paul DeJong launched the first two home runs of his collegiate career to power Illinois State (9-4, 0-0 Missouri Valley Conference) to an 11-3 victory over Bowling Green (3-10, 0-0 Mid-American Conference) Tuesday afternoon in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. Illinois State completed play in the invitational with a 3-1 overall record.
DeJong paced a 12-hit Illinois State attack, going 2-for-3 with two walks, three RBI and three runs scored. Joe Kelch matched a career-high with three hits and Daniel Dwyer added two RBI and two runs scored for the Redbirds.
Steve Heilenbach (1-0) earned his second collegiate victory, allowing three runs on nine hits in six innings of work. He struck out three and walked none. Ben Hecht, Will Headean and Joe Claver combined for three scoreless relief innings to close out the victory. Brett Fitzwater (0-1) did not make it out of the first inning for Bowling Green, allowing four earned runs on five hits in 0.2 innings for the defeat.
Illinois State sent 10 batters to the plate in the opening frame. Dwyer reached on a one-out single and scored on DeJong's two-run home run over the left field fence. Consecutive hits from Kelch and Jack Czeszewski set up a run-scoring double from Brock Stewart. Later in the inning, Sean Beesley drew a bases-loaded walk to cap the scoring at 4-0. DeJong lifted a solo home run in the second frame to extend the Redbird advantage to 5-0. It marked the first two home run game for an Illinois State player since Chad Hinshaw knocked two home runs versus Evansville on May 24, 2012.
Dwyer added a run-scoring double in the fourth inning to make it 6-0 Illinois State after four innings.
Bowling Green scored three earned runs off Heinlenbach in the sixth inning, but the Redbirds responded with a four-run frame to put the game away. Illinois State took advantage of two Falcon errors and stole a pair of bases in the inning. Kelch added a RBI in the eighth to cap the scoring.
Illinois State will conclude its annual spring break road trip with a non-conference game Wednesday night at Florida. First pitch is scheduled for 6:00 p.m. CDT.
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