Home Runs Power Redbirds Past The Huskies, 13-6

SEATTLE, Wash. – After having an off day offensively in a 5-2 loss Saturday, the Illinois State bats woke up in a big way Sunday against Washington as the Redbirds (7-5) used four home runs to power their way past the Huskies (7-7) by a score of 13-6 at Husky Ballpark.

ISU starter Colton Johnson allowed five runs on five hits in 4.1 innings of work, and Jeff Lindgren (1-0) picked up his first win of the season in relief after allowing a run on three hits in an inning of work. Michael Sebby and Trevor Cross combined to pitch 2.1 innings of scoreless baseball and Kyle Pauly picked up his second save of the season with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings to close out the win. 

The Redbirds jumped out to an early lead, thanks to a three-run home run off the bat of Collin Braithwaite in the top of the first inning. ISU would tack on two more runs in the top of the second on a two-run double by Nick Zouras, which plated John Rave and Derek Parola to put ISU up 5-0 headed to the bottom of the frame.  A two-run homer by Washington in the bottom of the inning cut the ISU lead to three at 5-2 and two more runs in the bottom of the third for the Huskies cut the deficit to one after three innings.

After a scoreless fourth inning, each team tallied a pair of runs in its half of the fifth inning. The Redbirds plated two runs on a RBI single by Joe Aeilts and the Huskies scored a pair on their second home run of the day to make the score 7-6 midway through the contest. The advantage remained at one for the Redbirds until the top of the eighth inning, when Parola homered to left field to make it 8-6. 

ISU then exploded for five runs in the top of the ninth to put the game away. Noah Sadler led off the inning with a single before Joe Aeilts hit the third home run of the day for the Redbirds to make the score 10-6. Joe Butler followed and went deep as well, going back-to-back for the Redbirds and extending the lead to 11-6. A RBI double by Rave later in the inning plated Parola for the twelfth run of the contest and the scoring was capped off when Rave scored on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Owen Miller to make secure the 13-6 victory for the Redbirds. 

Aeilts paced the Redbird offense, finishing the day 3-for-5 with a run scored and four driven in and Rave also added three hits for ISU. Braithwaite added two hits with the three RBI and Zouras drive in a pair on two hits, as Illinois State scored in double digits for the seventh time this season.

The series finale begins at 8 p.m. on Monday and will be broadcast via leanStream on GoHuskies.com. Game updates will be tweeted @RedbirdBaseball and fans can find all game links at GoRedbirds.com.

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