Box Score
SPRINGFIELD, Mo. – A five-run first inning gave the Illinois State baseball team all the offense it needed as the No. 8 seed Redbirds bested top-seeded Missouri State in an elimination game Sunday at Hammons Field. Illinois State won by a 7-2 score.
The win sends Illinois State (16-39) to the tournament's title game, versus No. 2 seed Dallas Baptist (39-19), at 3 p.m. The game will be broadcast live as part of The Valley on ESPN3.
Noah Sadler went 3-for-4 and delivered the biggest hit of the game against Missouri State – a three-run double in the first inning – and Redbird pitching made the early lead stick, as starter Jack Landwehr and the relief team of Mitch Vogrin, Trevor Cross, Michael Sebby and Brady Huffman limited the No. 12-ranked Bears to just a pair of runs.
All five of Illinois State's first-inning runs were scored with two outs. Owen Miller scored the first run of the game on a wild pitch and Nick Zouras singled up the middle to plate Collin Braithwaite. Sadler did the most damage in the inning, though, as his three-run double to right field that made it a 5-0 lead.
The Redbirds added a run on a Zouras sacrifice fly in the fifth. Missouri State got on the board on Hunter Steinmetz's RBI single in the sixth, but the Redbirds got that run right back in the bottom of the inning on a sac fly from Ryan Hutchinson.
The Bears scratched out another run in the eighth on Justin Paulsen sacrifice fly, but Brady Huffman came on in relief to get the Redbirds out of a jam, stranding two on base by getting an infield pop-up from Missouri State's Jake Burger. Huffman then pitched a 1-2-3 ninth inning with two strikeouts to finish off the win.
Illinois State's championship game appearance will be the team's first since 2014. Illinois State fell in the MVC Tournament's title game in 2013 and 2014.
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