TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Dan Savas fired his second-consecutive complete game to lead Illinois State (16-7, 3-1 Missouri Valley Conference) to a 5-2 victory over Indiana State (16-6, 1-3 Missouri Valley Conference) Friday night at Bob Warn Field. Savas has now won 17-consecutive decisions and has thrown consecutive Valley complete-game wins.
Savas (7-0) allowed two runs, one earned, on five hits with six strikeouts and two walks. The victory was his 20th-career win as a Redbird. David Stagg (4-2) was ticketed with the loss. He allowed two earned runs on five hits over 5.1 innings.
The Sycamores scored first to take a 1-0 lead off Savas in the second inning. Brian Romero drew a one out walk and scored on a RBI-single from Jeff Zahn. Savas then retired 10-straight Sycamores, a streak that carried into the fifth inning.
Sean Beesley opened the third inning with a single. The Redbird center fielder then stole second base and third base before scoring on a RBI-hit from Paul DeJong to tie the game, 1-1. Daniel Dwyer drew a one out walk in the fifth inning and scored on Mike Hollenbeck's double down the left field line. Hollenbeck finished with two hits and one walk to extend his on-base streak to 23 games.
Beesley drew a bases-loaded walk in the eighth inning and Dwyer added a sacrifice-fly to extend the Illinois State advantage to 4-1. In the ninth inning, Mason Snyder pulled a pinch-hit single into left field to plate Hollenbeck and make it 5-1 Illinois State.
In the bottom of the ninth inning, Mike Fitzgerald roped a leadoff single off Savas. Romero then reached on an error by Joe Kelch, putting runners at first and second base with nobody out. With an 0-2 count on Wampler, there was a light malfunction at Bob Warn Field that led to a 10-minute delay. When play resumed, Wampler reached on a fielder's choice, however Romero was forced out at second base by Savas. Jeff Zahn then lifted a fly ball to center field that Beesley dropped for an error. Fitzgerald scored to make it 5-2 Illinois State and Wampler advanced to second base. Connor McClain batted next and lifted a blast to right center field, but Leverett made a diving catch near the warning track for out two and fired to second base to double off Wampler to end the game.
The series resumes Saturday with a 1:00 p.m. CT first pitch from Terre Haute, Ind.
In addition to his defensive gem to end the game, Leverett reached base four times and scored one run for Illinois State.
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