Redbirds Drop High-Scoring Second Game of Three-Game Series at Tennessee Tech

COOKEVILLE, Tenn. – The Illinois State baseball team and 2017 Ohio Valley Conference champion Tennessee Tech combined to score 47 runs Saturday at Bush Stadium in the second of a three-game series. The Redbirds (2-3), who scored 17 runs on 20 hits, could not come back from the big deficit that resulted from a seven-run fifth inning for TTU (4-1) in a 30-17 defeat.

The Redbirds captured the first lead of the game and held onto a 3-1 advantage after the first inning. John Rave touched home plate for the first run of the game after scoring on an RBI single from Owen Miller. With only one out in the inning, Jordan Libman doubled down the right field line, scoring Collin Braithwaite and Miller to cap off the three-run first inning for ISU. 

A homerun from the Golden Eagles cut their deficit to two runs headed to the second inning, which saw neither team score before TTU exploded for seven runs in the third to take an 8-3 advantage over ISU going into the fourth. The Redbird deficit began to shrink, after Noah Sadler recorded a RBI groundout that allowed Nick Zouras to score. Another RBI from Miller pushed Joe Aeilts across home plate and Miller was later brought home on an RBI single from Libman to make the score 8-6 going into the bottom of the fourth. 

Tennessee Tech scored five runs in the bottom of the fourth to double their lead over the Redbirds, making it a 13-6 game. However, the Redbirds regained their momentum after Zouras raced home on a RBI sacrifice fly from Miller and Libman singled to left center with the bases loaded, bringing Rave and Sadler home and advancing Braithwaite to third. Derek Parola then blasted a homerun to right field bringing in three runs for the Redbirds and cutting the deficit to one run. A two-run homerun from Zouras later concluded the eight-run comeback for the Redbirds and gave them a 14-13 headed to the bottom half of the inning. 

The Golden Eagles responded with a seven-run fifth inning that proved to be too much to overcome for the Redbirds. With TTU up 21-14, Braithwaite opened the sixth inning with a homerun to center field, putting up an additional run for the 'Birds. In the bottom of the sixth, Tennessee Tech scored four more runs, stretching their lead to ten. Zouras launched his second homerun of the night in the top of the seventh and the final Redbird run of the night was scored by Sadler on an RBI from Rave in the top of the eighth.

Four different Redbird hitters drove in at least three runs in the game, with Libman driving in five on three hits. Zouras' four hits, which included the two homers, resulted in four runs scored and three RBI. Miller also drove in three runs while scoring twice and Parola plated three runs for ISU in the high-scoring affair.

The Redbirds will play their final game of the three-game series against Tennessee Tech tomorrow at 1 p.m. Links for live stats are available at GoRedbirds.com. Fans can also follow @RedbirdBaseball on Twitter for live updated and more.