VALPARAISO, Ind. – The Illinois State baseball team fell, 7-4, at Valparaiso in Sunday's series finale at Emory G. Bauer Field.
Illinois State (18-25 overall, 8-8 Missouri Valley Conference) was led by three hits by fourth-year sophomore Jake McCaw and home runs from fifth-year senior Jordan Libman, second-year freshman Ryan Cermak, and fifth-year junior Jack Butler.
The Redbirds led 1-0 after two innings and 3-2 after four innings before Riley Dent recorded a key home run for Valparaiso (11-23 overall, 6-10 MVC) to put VU up two.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Libman led off the game with a home run down the right field line.
Valpo plated two unearned runs in the 3rd inning to take a 2-1 lead.
Cermak's two-run homer in the 4th put the Redbirds back up but Valparaiso tied it in the 5th at 3-3 and led 6-3 after seven innings.
A single by fourth-year junior Kyle Soberano cut the deficit to 6-4 but Valpo tacked on an insurance run that proved to be needed in the bottom of the 8th.
Jack Butler blasted a two-run home run in the 9th, but the Redbirds were unable to scratch across another run.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- McCaw has 21 hits in his last 37 at-bats. McCaw has multiple hits in his last four games and three-plus hits in the last three games.
- The Redbirds' entire lineup had at least one hit for the second time this season (4/11 vs Indiana State).
- ISU hit three-plus home runs in back-to-back games for the first time in 2021.
UP NEXT
Illinois State is scheduled to travel to MVC-leader Dallas Baptist for four games over May 7-9.
For the latest updates on Illinois State Baseball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com, follow the Redbirds on Twitter (@RedbirdBaseball) and Instagram (isuredbirdbaseball), and like the team on Facebook (Illinois State Baseball).
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