EVANSVILLE, Ind. – Illinois State baseball defeated Belmont, 6-4, in the first game of day three of the 2024 MVC Tournament on Thursday at Charles H. Braun Stadium.
The Redbirds (29-26 overall) move on to face Southern Illinois Thursday night.
Junior Noah Rabin had three hits, including a pair of home runs, and three RBIs to lead the Redbird offense. The Redbirds generated nine hits as a team.
Belmont (26-32 overall) is eliminated from the MVC Tournament.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Redbirds knocked home a pair of runs in the bottom of the 4th off a Judah Morris sacrifice fly and Greg Nichols single for a 2-0 lead after four innings.
Rabin knocked out home run no. 17 of the season in the bottom of the 6th for a 4-0 Redbird advantage, his third home run of the tournament.
Belmont broke through on the scoreboard in the 8th, tallying three runs to trim the lead to 4-3 for Illinois State.
Illinois State added some insurance in the bottom of the 8th as Rabin and Morris went back-to-back for the second straight day, padding the lead to 6-3.
The Bruins would add a run in the top of the 9th but the rally would fall short.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Junior Tanner Perry got the start, throwing 7.2 innings with two strikeouts
- Morris and Rabin hit back-to-back HRs for the second consecutive day
- ILS wins its first MVC Tournament game since May 2021 (10-9 over Evansville).
UP NEXT
Illinois State is scheduled to play Thursday night versus Southern Illinois at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be on ESPN+.
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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