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Illinois State University Athletics

Josh Outlaw
Tyler Coe
7
Brown BROWN
9
Winner Illinois St. ILLINOIS
Brown BROWN
7
Final
9
Illinois St. ILLINOIS
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Brown BROWN 0 1 3 0 0 1 0 2 0 7 10 2
Illinois St. ILLINOIS 0 4 2 0 0 3 0 0 X 9 12 0

W: Foley, Lucas (2-0) L: P. Berryman (0-1) S: Clapp, Reece (2)

Game Recap: Baseball | | Sam Collins

Redbirds Earn 9-7 Victory Over Brown Saturday At Snowbird Classic

PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. –   The Illinois State baseball program secured a 9-7 victory over Brown at the Snowbird Classic in Port Charlotte, Fla. The Redbirds move to 5-1 to begin the 2026 season. 

The Redbirds had four players record two hits in the contest, including Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes, who recorded his second consecutive multi-hit performance with a 2–for-5 day from the plate with a pair of doubles. Senior Kannon Coakley added three RBIs, his most in a game as a Redbird, with a single in the third inning. 

Junior Lucas Foley earned his second win of the season to move to 2-0, after entering the contest in relief in the fourth inning. Foley limited the Bears to just one run and no hits, with two strikeouts in three innings pitched. Graduate Reece Clapp tallied his second save with three strikeouts in 1.1 innings pitched. 

Brown struck first in the contest with a leadoff home run to open the second inning, taking a 1-0 lead. In the bottom half of the frame, Illinois State responded with a four-run inning to take the lead in the contest. Sophomore Eric Machej capitalized on a fielding error by the Bears to tie the game at 1-1, and moments later, Junior Luke Stulga drove home Graduate Payton McHarg with a sacrifice fly, giving the Redbirds a 2-1 advantage. Brayden Bakes added two more runs to Illinois State's lead with a two-RBI double. 

The Bears clawed back in the third with a three-run inning to tie the contest at 4-4. Illinois State later reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning as Coakley drove in a pair of runs with a single to give the Redbirds a 6-4 advantage. 

Brown pulled a run back in the top of the sixth to cut Illinois State's lead to 6-5. Illinois State responded with a three-run bottom half to pull its lead to 9-5. Mastros drove home Brayden Bakes for the Redbirds' first run in the inning as a pair of RBI singles from Machej and Graduate Camden Karczewski extended Illinois State's advantage to four runs. 

In the top of the eighth, the Bears added a pair of runs from an RBI double to make the score 9-7. Despite Brown's late rally, the Redbirds held on to secure the victory. 

NOTES 

  • The Redbirds' victory over the Bears marks the first win in the all-time series against Brown for Illinois State. 

  • Sophomore Carson Cormier made his first career start in the contest. Cormier tallied four strikeouts across 3.0 innings pitched, matching a career-high for the Westford, Mass. native. 

  • Senior Josh Outlaw extended his hitting streak to four games, matching Junior Ryan Bakes for the longest streak by a Redbird this season. 

  • Coakley tallied three RBIs for the Redbirds in his first multi-RBI performance for Illinois State. 

  • The Redbirds have four players (Karczewski, Machej, Mastros, and B. Bakes) who have reached base in all six contests to open the 2026 season. 

  • Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes recorded a -for- performance to record a multi-hit game in back-to-back contests. 

  • Junior Graham Mastros became the third Redbird on the day to record a multi–hit contest, going 2-for-5 with an RBI double in the sixth inning. 

  • With nine runs scored in the contest, the Redbirds have scored nine or more runs in four games to open 2026. 

  • Before allowing one run to score in the sixth inning, Junior Lucas Foley tossed seven scoreless frames to open the campaign. 

  • The Redbirds recorded 12 total strikeouts in the contest, which is the most by the Illinois State pitching staff this season 

For the latest updates on Illinois State Baseball, stay tuned at GoRedbirds.com, follow the Redbirds on X (formerly Twitter) (@RedbirdBaseball), and Instagram (isuredbirdbaseball), and like the team on Facebook (Illinois State Baseball). 

GoRedbirds.com and the Illinois State Redbirds App:  Your sources for Illinois State tickets, Weisbecker Scholarship Fund gifts, multimedia, Redbird merchandise, photos, and more. 

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