MARTIN, Tenn. – The Illinois State baseball team won 11-7 at UT Martin to secure the series on Sunday at Skyhawk Baseball Field.
Junior Noah Rabin went 4-for-4 with a double, a home run, and three RBIs to lead Illinois State (8-9 overall).
Sophomore Luke Lawrence recorded a hit, three RBIs, and two runs scored while junior JT Sokolove tallied two hits, an RBI, and three runs scored for the Redbirds.
Junior Tanner Perry threw five innings with four strikeouts and two walks to record his first win of 2024. Junior Carter Monke recorded four innings out of the Redbird pen, allowing two runs with two strikeouts and a walk.
UT Martin moves to 6-14 overall.
SCORING BREAKDOWN
Illinois State got the scoring started in the 2nd inning with a solo homerun to left field off the bat of Rabin, his 7th of the season.
The Skyhawks responded in the bottom of the 2nd with back-to-back RBI doubles to take the lead 2-1.
UT Martin would pad their lead in the 3rd with a sac fly to lead 3-1.
ILS would see a six-run 4th inning to build a four-run lead. The Redbirds saw back-to-back RBI singles from Sokolove and Greg Nichols tie the score before it was Lawrence giving ILS a 4-3 lead off an error by the Skyhawks shortstop.
After Lawrence got on, Luke Cheng would get hit by a pitch and Daniel Pacella would walk to load the bases. Then, it was a double down the right field line from Rabin which increased the Redbird lead to 7-3.
UTM responded once more with an RBI double in the bottom of the 4th to trim the lead down to 7-4.
In the top of the 5th, Lawrence singled up the middle on a perfectly executed hit-and-run to plate Sokolove and grow the margin to four, 8-4.
UTM closed the gap in the 6th as the Skyhawks scored once with an RBI single to make it an 8-5 ballgame.
Illinois State scored three runs in the top of the 7th off an RBI hit from Lawrence and a two-RBI single by Cheng to make the score 11-5 ILS.
The Skyhawks scored twice more in the 9th off an RBI double to make it a final of 11-7.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Rabin moves his season RBI total to 19.
- Rabin recorded his first four-hit game of 2024. Sunday is his second game with three RBIs in 2024.
- The Redbirds' 5-9 batters in the order recorded 10 of the team's 12 hits.
- Monke, making his fifth appearance of 2024, recorded the save.
UP NEXTÂ Â
The Redbirds are back in action Tuesday at 5 p.m. CT in the 2024 home opener vs. SIUE at Duffy Bass Field.
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