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Illinois State University Athletics

Jared Hart baseball 2022 at Murray State
Dave Winder
6
Illinois State ILS 6-5
7
Winner Murray State MUR 9-4
Illinois State ILS
6-5
6
Final
7
Murray State MUR
9-4
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 R H E
Illinois State ILS 0 3 1 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 12 0
Murray State MUR 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 7 12 3

W: NARANJO (1-0) L: Gagliardo, Keegan (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Strikeouts Plentiful in 16-Inning Redbird Loss to Murray State

MURRAY, Ky. – The Illinois State baseball pitching staff struck out 23 batters in its 16-inning 7-6 loss at Murray State at Johnny Reagan Field on Thursday.

The 23 strikeouts are tied for the second-most in the NCAA this season while 16 innings is the longest game in the NCAA this season. 

Fourth-year junior Kolton Scherbenske had a team-high nine strikeouts in four innings of scoreless relief.

Offensively Illinois State (6-5) was led by three hits from second-year sophomore Luke Cheng and a home run from third-year sophomore Ryan Cermak.

Murray State (9-4) now has a ten-game home winning streak.

HOW IT HAPPENED  

Cheng opened the scoring in the 2nd inning with an RBI single before second-year freshman Tyler Woltman plated two runs with an RBI single.

A 3rd inning solo home run by Cermak extended the Redbird lead to 4-0.

Murray State scored a pair of runs in each of the 4th and 5th innings to tie the game at 4-4.

A single by fifth-year junior Jake McCaw in the 7th inning gave the Redbirds the lead before a Woltman sac fly in the 8th inning extended the ISU lead to 6-4.

MSU scored a run in each of the 8th and 9th innings to force the game into extra innings.

The 'Birds threatened in the 13th inning but neither team could scratch across an extra-inning run until a bases-loaded walk in the 16th inning forced home the winning run.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE 

  • First extra inning of the season for ISU. Longest game since 2016 vs Milwaukee (18 innings).
  • ISU's previous high in strikeouts since 2000 was 18 vs Indiana in 2019.
  • Every Racer that batted struck out at least once with eight Racers fanning multiple times.
  • Career-high six strikeouts for third-year sophomore Erik Kubiatowicz.
  • Scherbenske's nine strikeouts are the most by a Redbird reliever since fifth-year junior Jared Hart fanned nine in relief against Valparaiso in 2021. Dan Savas (12 - 2011) has the century record for strikeouts by a reliever. The game marks the first time ISU has had multiple relievers with 6+ K's.
  • Woltman recorded 24 putouts, the 23 strikeouts and a foul pop-up. The next closest for the 'Birds since 2000 is 20 by Mason Snyder in 2015.
  • 62 at-bats are the most since 2000 for ISU with the combined 118 also being a century-high. Sixth-year senior Aidan Huggins, Cermak, and McCaw all had eight at-bats. For all games since 2000, a combined three players had eight at-bats in a game with that mark now jumping to six players.
  • After Sacramento State conceded its first unearned run of 2022 on Tuesday, Illinois State is the only team in the country that has not given up an unearned run.

UP NEXT  

Illinois State will play a Friday doubleheader at Murray State, starting at 12:00 p.m. CT.

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).  

GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App:  Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more. 

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