EVANSVILLE, Ind.– The Illinois State baseball team was clicking on all cylinders prior to the 9th inning at Evansville, but the Missouri Valley Conference-leading Purple Aces completed a four-run, two-out comeback, walking off Illinois State in a 5-4 decision at Charles H. Braun Stadium on Friday.
The Redbirds (18-23 overall, 5-8 MVC) led 4-0 after eight innings but five two-out, unearned Evansville (25-18 overall, 10-3 MVC) runs came home in the 9th inning.
Fifth-year junior Jared Hart threw five scoreless frames before giving way to fifth-year senior Colin Wyman, who was recorded 3.2 IP without yielding an earned run.
Fifth-year junior Jake McCaw hit his 11th home run of the season, going back-to-back with fifth-year senior Nick Gile, who hit his 9th homer of 2022.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Third-year sophomore Ryan Cermak singled home a run in the 2nd inning to get the scoring going.
McCaw and Gile hit back-to-back solo shots in the 5th inning to push the ISU lead to 3-0.
Illinois State added what looked to be an insurance run in the 9th inning on an RBI single from McCaw.
The first batter of the bottom of the frame reached on an error but ISU retired two of the next three batters to get to two outs. The next five Purple Aces reached safely, ultimately resulting in the walk-off run coming home.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
UP NEXT
Illinois State is scheduled to face Evansville on Saturday at 2:00 p.m. CT and Sunday at 1:00 p.m. CT.
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