NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball team completed a three-game sweep of Eastern Kentucky with a 7-3 win over the Colonels Sunday at Duffy Bass Field.
Illinois State broke a 3-3 tie with a single tally in the seventh inning before tacking on three insurance runs in the eighth. Daniel Dwyer and Paul DeJong both matched career highs in hits, with three and four, respectively, to lead the Redbird bats.
Jake Sale earned his first win of the season with two perfect innings in relief of starter Jack Landwehr. Ryan Koziol pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning to finish off the game.
Eastern Kentucky (6-14) scored two runs in the top of the first, but Illinois State (11-10) added single tallies in the second and third innings to tie the game. Dennis Colon's RBI groundout in the second scored Jared Hendren, and DeJong scored from third when Koziol grounded into a double play in the third.
The Colonels pushed back ahead with a run in the fourth before the Redbirds tied it again in the fifth when Jean Ramirez scored on a wild pitch.
Illinois State took its first lead of the game in the seventh with an RBI single from Hendren. The Redbirds then put their first crooked number on the scoreboard in the eighth, with a bases-loaded single from DeJong and a two-run single from Koziol.
Landwehr got a no-decision, despite pitching six solid innings. He allowed four hits, four walks and three runs (two earned), while striking out one. Sale followed with two perfect innings, with one strikeout, before Koziol finished out the win.
All four of DeJong's hits were singles. He drove in one run and stole a base. Dwyer's three hits were all singles as well; the junior outfielder scored a game-high three runs.
The Redbirds return to action Tuesday when they travel to take on No. 18 Illinois at Illinois Field. First pitch is set for 4 p.m.
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