NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball team was held scoreless in the final four innings of Sunday's Senior Day game against Duffy Bass Field as the Redbirds dropped a 3-2 decision to UIC.
Illinois State (18-29 overall, 7-17 Missouri Valley Conference) limited UIC (26-21 overall, 12-12 MVC, winners of seven-straight) to a trio of runs as fifth-year senior Derek Salata threw seven innings before third-year junior Elijah Dale threw a pair of scoreless frames.
HOW IT HAPPENED
UIC scored twice in the 2nd inning before Illinois State got a run back on an RBI by second-year freshman Luke Lawrence, but the Flames responded with a run in the 5th inning.
Second-year sophomore JT Sokolove tripled in the 5th inning and was brought home by third-year junior Luke Cheng's sacrifice fly.
Illinois State had a batter reach a dropped-third strikeout with two outs in the 9th inning but was unable to tie the game or walk it off.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Fourth-year junior Auggie Rasmussen's on-base streak of 27 games was snapped.
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Dale has 54 strikeouts on the season, the second-most by a Redbird reliever since 2000 (Kenny Long had 74 in 2010)
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Both teams tallied five hits.
UP NEXT
Illinois State is scheduled to travel to Valparaiso for a May 18-20 series. As it stands, Illinois State controls its MVC Tournament destiny as sweeping the Beacons would put ISU in the eight-team tournament field. The 'Birds could also make the MVC Tournament field if ISU wins twice and Bradley sweeps Belmont.
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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