NORMAL, Ill. - The Illinois State baseball team defeated No. 17/25 Iowa with a key three-run 8th inning on Tuesday at Duffy Bass Field.
Fifth-year senior Connor Olson drove home the eventual winning run in the 8th inning while third-year junior Luke Cheng came home on a passed ball to pad the Redbird lead after he drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game.
Illinois State (8-11 overall) got three scoreless innings in relief by sixth-year senior Jared Hart against Iowa (19-4), which was off to its best start in program history and came in winners of nine-straight.
Fifth-year junior Sean Sinisko fired five innings, tying a career high with nine strikeouts (2/22/20 at 16th-ranked Oklahoma) while fourth-year junior Elijah Dale threw a scoreless 9th inning for his second save of the season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
Sinisko retired the first five Hawkeyes, but a walk and two-run homer resulted in a 2-0 Iowa lead through three innings as the Redbirds stranded runners on first and third in the 3rd inning.
The 'Birds got two back in the 4th inning as freshman Daniel Pacella doubled home third-year sophomore Judah Morris before third-year junior Auggie Rasmussen knocked in a second Redbird run.
After three-straight singles to open the 8th inning, Cheng drew a bases-loaded walk to tie the game before Olson pinch-hit and knocked in a run to put ISU up, 4-3. Cheng scored on a passed ball to provide an insurance run.
Iowa got a runner to second after Dale allowed a leadoff single but was left stranded as Dale deflected a ground ball to the first baseman for the third out.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Illinois State recorded its first ranked win of the season as fifth-year head coach Steve Holm now has at least one ranked win in every season.
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Holm improves to 3-0 against Iowa and 2-2 against ranked Big Ten teams (beat #19 Purdue, 4-3, on 3/17/22)
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Rasmussen stole his team-leading ninth base of the season.
UP NEXT
Illinois State is scheduled to host Missouri State March 31 and April 1-2 at Duffy Bass Field.
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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