Illinois State Upends Illinois in Champaign, 12-9

CHAMPAIGN, Ill. - The Illinois State baseball team topped Illinois, 12-9, at Illinois Field on Tuesday.

Illinois State (10-13 overall) fell behind, 3-0, after the 1^st inning but got three-run homers from third-year junior Auggie Rasmussen and fourth-year junior Adrian Flores.

Third-year junior Elijah Dale threw two scoreless innings to record the save while freshman Tyrelle Chadwick fired three innings to earn the win after being forced to warm up on the game mound.

Freshman Luke Lawrence hit his first career home run while second-year sophomore Noah Rabin had four hits as every Redbird in the starting lineup had at least one hit and either scored or knocked in a run.

Illinois falls to 12-13.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The 'Birds nearly escaped the opening frame unscathed but after a batter reached on a two-out infield single, a three-run homer put Illinois up, 3-0.

The Redbirds quickly responded as Rasmussen and Flores both smacked three-run home runs in the 2^nd inning.

Illinois got two back in the 3^rd inning to cut the ISU lead to 6-5.

Rabin plated a run in the 4^th inning and a misplayed fly ball with two outs resulted in a two-RBI double for freshman Daniel Pacella and Redbird lead of 9-5 through four innings.

Rasmussen's speed was key in the 5^th inning as the Blair, Neb. native recorded an infield single before swiping his MVC-leading 12^th base of the season and advancing to third on the catcher's throwing error. Fourth-year Shaydon Kubo recorded one of his two hits to score Rasmussen with two outs.

A two-out grand slam in the 6^th inning cut the Redbird lead to 10-9 but Rabin tallied a two-out RBI single in the 8^th inning and Lawrence hit his first career home run in the 9^th inning to provide insurance runs.

Illinois had runners on first and second in both the 8^th and 9^th innings, but the Redbirds held on.

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Every Redbird in the starting lineup had a hit for the first time since 4/2/22 at Indiana State
• Rabin recorded his first career four-hit game and joins Kubo, Flores, and Rasmussen as Redbirds with four-hit games in 2023.

• While every Redbird in the starting lineup had a hit and run scored or knocked, each Redbird also struck out at least once.

• Eight extra-base hits (five doubles, three home runs) are a season high for ISU

CLICK BELOW LINKS FOR TWITTER VIDEO QUOTES FROM STEVE HOLM AND ELIJAH DALE

• Holm: https://twitter.com/RedbirdBaseball/status/1643446890187436032?s=20
• Dale: https://twitter.com/RedbirdBaseball/status/1643451210123337729?s=20

UP NEXT  

Illinois State is scheduled to travel to Western Illinois Wednesday (3:00 p.m. CT) and Indiana State April 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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