NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball program secured a series sweep with a 7-6 win in 15 innings Saturday evening at Duffy Bass Field. With the victory, the Redbirds have won five straight contests to improve to 13-7 in 2026.
Illinois State recorded its second walk-off victory of the four-game set, after Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the 15th inning to drive home the winning run.
Graduate Reece Clapp played a crucial role in the Redbird win, recording the longest outing of his career with seven innings pitched after entering the contest in the eighth inning. Clapp limited the Leathernecks to no runs and allowed only one hit to secure his third win of the season.
Illinois State trailed earlier after Western Illinois opened scoring in the contest following a Redbird error to take a 1-0 advantage in the second inning. A frame later, the Leathernecks added a run with a solo home run to push their advantage to 2-0. In the top of the fourth, Western Illinois tallied a pair of runs with an RBI double and an RBI single to move out in front 4-0.
Despite the early deficit, the Redbirds clawed their way back into the contest, as Junior Michael Carrano Jr. doubled to left center to drive home Junior Luke Stulga to plate Illinois State's first run in the game and move the score to 4-1 in the bottom half of the frame.
Western Illinois responded to the Redbirds' run with an RBI single in the top of the fifth to reclaim a four-run advantage at 5-1. In the bottom half, Senior Nolan Barry pulled a run back for the Redbirds to make the score 5-2.
In the sixth, Illinois State worked into a bases-loaded situation after a pair of singles and a hit-by-pitch to open the frame. With a runner on every base, Junior Ryan Bakes worked a walk to score a run for the Redbirds and move the score to 5-3. Illinois State added another run on a fielder's choice, trimming the Leathernecks lead to 5-4.
After moving within a run, the Redbirds evened the score with an infield single from Junior Luke Stulga and a throwing error scored Graduate Camden Karczewski to the score to 5-5.
The Leathernecks reclaimed the lead with a sacrifice fly in the top half of the eighth to move in front 6-5. Illinois State later responded after Ryan Bakes doubled to lead off the home half of the frame. The Redbirds later plated the run on a Leathernecks balk to tie the contest at 6-6.
With the score even, the contest entered extra innings for the second time in the four-game series. In extras, both pitching staffs limited the opposing offense to record six straight scoreless innings after eight consecutive frames with a run scored. In the 15th inning, the Redbirds entered a bases-loaded situation after drawing three walks to set up Brayden Bakes' hit by pitch to secure the walk-off victory.
NOTES
- Graduate Reece Clapp tallied the longest outing of his career with 7.0 innings pitched in the victory. Clapp added eight strikeouts in the contest, marking a new career-best.
- Junior Luke Stulga matched his career-high hit total with four hits in the game and recorded his second four-hit performance of the season. Stulga additionally extended his hitting streak to five games to match a season best streak.
- Graduate Camden Karczewski added a pair of hits to record his third straight contest with two or more hits. In five of the last six games, Karczewski has had at least two hits.
- Junior Graham Mastros extended his career-best hitting streak to 11 games, with two hits in the win. Mastros has recorded two hits in the last four contests, and has notched two or more hits in seven of Illinois State's previous eight games.
- With two hits, Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes extended his hitting streak to five games to record a season-best streak.
- Junior Michael Carrano Jr. added a pair of hits for his third straight game with two hits. With two hits, Carrano tallied his fourth multi-hit game of the campaign.
- The Redbirds recorded 15 strikeouts in the victory to tally a new season-best mark. The punchout total marks the most in a game for Illinois State since the Redbirds struck out 17 batters against Arkansas State on February 23, 2023.
- Illinois State tallied 16 hits to record its fifth straight game with 10 or more hits.
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