PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. – Illinois State was unable to overcome the hot bats of St. Thomas (UST) on Saturday at Centennial Park, as sophomore Daniel Pacella smacked his second homer of the season in the 20-8 loss.
Pacella's 6th-inning homer brought ISU to within 8-6 of the Tommies (1-2 overall, 0-0 Summit) before St. Thomas scored 12 of the final 14 runs to defeat the Redbirds (1-2 overall, 0-0 MVC).
HOW IT HAPPENED
The 'Birds fell behind 4-0 through the first two innings at the plate for UST before junior JT Sokolove scored the first Redbird run off a solo homerun in the bottom of the 2nd.
As the lead grew to five for the Tommies, sophomore Shai Robinson knocked across ISU's fourth run of the game in the 6th inning prior to Pacella's two-run shot just one batter later.
Junior Tyler Herron knocked in ISU's final two runs in the 7th inning as he smacked a two-run shot to left center for his first homerun as a Redbird, scoring teammate Noah Rabin in the process. However, Saint Thomas collected seven runs in the final two innings to secure the 12-run victory.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
UP NEXT
As the final scheduled game of the Snowbird Classic versus Saint Louis has been canceled due to rain, Illinois State now turns  its attention to a three game series against the Arkansas Little Rock Trojans next weekend.Â
The two will meet from Feb. 23-25 at Gary Hogan Field in Little Rock, Arkansas. Keep an eye out on goredbirds.com as well as on Twitter (@RedbirdBaseball) for all schedule updates.
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).Â
GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App:  Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Athletic Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos and more.
