WINTER HAVEN, Fla. - Corey Furman's walk-off two-run home run in the bottom of the ninth inning propelled Bucknell (5-5, 0-0 Patriot League) to a 4-2 victory over Illinois State (8-4, 0-0 Missouri Valley Conference) Sunday afternoon at the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational. Illinois State finished the weekend with a 2-1 record, following wins Friday and Saturday versus LIU Brooklyn.
Furman's two-run blast off Brock Stewart (0-1) cleared the fence in right field to end the game. Stewart did not retire either of the two batters he faced in the ninth inning, as Brett Smith knocked a single to open the frame before scoring on the home run. Mike Castellani (1-0) secured his first collegiate victory and worked two scoreless innings with three strikeouts for Bucknell.
Jeremy Rhoades made his first collegiate start since May 24, 2012 and worked a career-best six innings for Illinois State. Rhoades struck out a career-high 10 and allowed two earned runs on eight hits with one walk for the no-decision.
The Redbirds scored first Sunday, jumping to a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning. Mike Hollenbeck extended his team-best on-base streak to 12 games with a one-out double. Paul DeJong's run-scoring single drove home Hollenbeck and extended DeJong's hitting streak to a team-high 11 games. The Redbirds added another run in the fifth inning off Bucknell starter Dan Weigel. Sean Beesley opened the inning with a single, stole second base, advanced to third base on an error and scored on Dennis Colon's sacrifice-fly.
Bucknell rallied to tie the game off Rhoades in the bottom of the fifth inning. Smith reached on an infield single and advanced to second base on an error from Rhoades. Furman then lifted a run-scoring triple and later scored on a RBI-knock from Joe Ogren.
The Redbirds had scoring chances in the sixth, seventh and eighth innings, but stranded four base runners to keep the game tied at 2-2. Bucknell loaded the bases with one out off Ben Hecht in the seventh inning. David Suarez was called on in relief and struck out Rob Krentzman for out number one, before getting Justin Meier to fly out to Mason Snyder to end the threat.
Jack Czeszewski worked a perfect eighth inning with one strikeout.
Redbird pitchers tallied 12 strikeouts in the loss and Illinois State left eight men on base.
The Redbirds will have Monday off before concluding action in the RussMatt Central Florida Invitational Tuesday. Illinois State will face Bowling Green in a 1:00 p.m. CDT start at Chain of Lakes Park.
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