NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball team won both games of a doubleheader against visiting SIUE Saturday at Duffy Bass Field. ISU won by scores of 2-1 and 11-8.
Game 1
Jacob Hendren turned in his second complete game of the year, allowing just one run over seven strong innings, as the Redbirds took a 2-1 win in the opener of Saturday's doubleheader.
Hendren allowed just six hits and one walk in the game. SIUE's lone run came on Dustin Woodcock's fifth-inning home run, which gave the visitors a 1-0 lead.
Illinois State answered with two runs in the bottom half of the inning, however, as Dennis Colon walked to lead off the frame and Daniel Dwyer singled to left-center field to follow. Paul DeJong doubled down the left-field line to drive in Colon, and Ryan Koziol chased Dwyer home with a sacrifice fly.
Hendren got himself out of trouble in the final two innings, as he worked around a pair of one-out hits in the sixth inning and a leadoff single to start the seventh.
Hendren kept pace with Bradley's Elliot Ashbeck for the Missouri Valley Conference wins lead, earning his ninth victory of the season. Hendren struck out five in Saturday's win.
Brian Rodemoyer and DeJong recorded two hits apiece in the opener.
Game 2
The Redbirds took command early with a six-run third inning but had to fend off a late SIUE rally en route to an 11-8 win in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader.
Joe Kelch drove in four runs, while Jared Hendren, Mason Snyder and Koziol tallied two hits apiece in the win.
SIUE scored the first two runs of the game with single tallies in the second and third innings, respectively. Alec Saikal hit a leadoff home run in the second before Nick Lombardo provided an RBI single up the middle in the third.
The Redbirds churned out six runs in the bottom of the third, though, to take control of the game. Jared Hendren got things started with a game-tying, two-run single up the middle. Snyder followed with an RBI single before Kelch provided the biggest hit of the inning, a three-run home run to left field.
Illinois State added three runs in the fifth inning, thanks to an RBI single from Koziol, an RBI groundout from Blake Molitor and an SIUE passed passed ball.
SIUE got those three runs back in the top half of the sixth, as Skyler Geissinger singled in the inning's first run. Woodcock drove in the second run with a sacrifice fly, before a Denton Reed single plated a third run.
Illinois State came back with two runs in the bottom of the frame, courtesy of an SIUE balk and a sac fly from Kelch.
The Cougars scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh with a two-run home run from Saikal, but Koziol came on to record the final two outs to earn his fourth save of the year.
Redbird starter Jeffrey Barton allowed three runs on five hits and a walk over 3.2 innings. Jack Czeszewski earned the win after going 1.2 innings, allowing three runs on four hits. Jack Landwehr surrendered two hits on four hits over an inning of work before Koziol came on to record the game's final two outs, both via strikeout.
Illinois State (23-22) and SIUE (16-24) are back in action Sunday in the finale of the four-game series. First pitch at Duffy Bass Field is set for 1 p.m.
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