TERRE HAUTE, Ind. - Indiana State (17-6, 2-3 Missouri Valley Conference) scored nine-consecutive runs and topped Illinois State (16-8, 3-2 Missouri Valley Conference), 9-2, Saturday afternoon at a cold and rainy Bob Warn Field. The rubber match of the three game Valley-series is Sunday with first pitch slated for noon CT.
Dylan Craig (3-1) suffered his first lost of the season. In his shortest outing of the spring, Craig allowed six earned runs on seven hits in five innings of work. Brad Lombard (5-0) fired 6.1 innings for the Sycamores and allowed only one run on five hits. Illinois State pitching surrendered five walks and Indiana State tallied 12 hits in the game.
Sean Beesley opened the game with a single, stole second base and scored on Mike Hollenbeck's RBI-single down the left field line. Hollenbeck added a sacrifice-fly in the ninth inning to cap the Redbird scoring.
In between, Indiana State scored nine-straight runs. The Sycamores took the lead for good in the third inning, tallying three runs in the third inning. Tyler Wampler opened the frame with a walk and scored on a sacrifice-fly from Derek Hannahs. Landon Curry and Cody Zimmerman added run-scoring knocks for Indiana State.
Curry added a RBI-single in the fourth inning and Manuel Estevez and Hannahs each drove home runs in the fifth inning, extending the Sycamores lead to 5-1.
Illinois State loaded the bases and did not score in the sixth and seventh innings. The Sycamores scored twice in the eighth and one more in the ninth to put the game away.
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