Redbirds Win Offensive Shootout To Secure Series Finale Over Evansville,15-9 Sunday Afternoon

EVANSVILLE, Ind. –  The Illinois State baseball program secured a 15-9 victory over Evansville in the series finale Sunday afternoon at German American Bank Field at Charles H. Braun Stadium. With the win, the Redbirds improve to 18-10 overall and 4-2 through six games in Missouri Valley Conference Play. 

Junior Graham Mastros headlined the Redbirds offense with four hits, including two home runs in the contest, to record his second game this season with two or more homers. Mastros added a double and a single to stand a triple shy of completing the cycle. 

Sophomore Louis Bussard added his first multi-hit game as a Redbird with a career high four hits in the contest, including two doubles. Bussard tallied another career-best after tallying three RBIs in the game. 

Graduate Camden Karczewski and Senior Kannon Coakley became the third and fourth Redbirds with multiple hits as the pairing added three hits in the victory. Karczewski recorded his first game at Illinois State with three hits, as Coakley tallied his second game this season with at least three hits.  

Redshirt Freshman Luke Teschke tallied a career-best six strikeouts on his path to securing his second career victory. Teschke tossed 5.0 innings and limited Evansville to only two hits and one run. 

The Redbirds jumped out early after Illinois State's first two hitters, Graduate Camden Karczewski and Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes, reached with a single and double to place a pair of runners into scoring position to open the contest. Mastros stepped up and delivered his seventh home run of the season to give the Redbirds an early 3-0 advantage. Illinois State added another run after Senior Kannon Coakley drove in Junior Luke Stulga on a sacrifice fly to move the Redbird lead to 4-0. 

In the second inning, the Redbirds rallied with a pair of walks with two outs, and Karczewski and Bakes put two runners on for Illinois State. With runners on first and second, Mastros notched his second home run of the contest to push the Redbird lead to 7-0. 

The Redbirds added to their advantage after Sophomore Eric Machej delivered an RBI single to score Coakley and push the Illinois State lead to 8-0 in the top of the fifth inning. In the bottom half, Evansville scored its first run of the contest after a pair of walks and an RBI single made the score 8-1. The Purple Aces pulled an additional pair of runs in the sixth on a groundout and a sacrifice fly to move the score to 8-3. 

In the top of the seventh, Illinois State led off the inning with two runners as Stulga reached on an error and Coakley singled to right field. Junior Ryan Bakes plated Stulga on an RBI double to give the Redbirds a 9-3 lead. With a pair of runners in scoring position, Bussard delivered his third hit of the contest to make the score 11-3 on a two RBI double. After advancing to third on a Purple Aces error, Bussard later scored on a sacrifice fly from Machej to make the Illinois State lead 12-3. Evansville responded in the bottom half with an RBI single and capitalized on a Redbird error to pull two runs back and make the score 12-5. 

After the Redbirds' four-run seventh frame, Illinois State added three runs in the eighth to grow the lead to 15-5. Stulga drove in Mastros on an RBI single to score the first run of the frame following a leadoff double from Mastros. Moments later, after Coakley delivered his third hit of the contest, Bussard tallied his fourth hit of the game with an RBI double to plate Illinois State's second run of the inning. Following Bussard's double, Machej notched his second sacrifice fly of the afternoon to score Illinois State's 15th run. 

The Purple Aces followed a pair of walks to open the home half of the inning with an RBI double to pull a run back and make the score 15-6. With a sacrifice fly and an RBI single later, Evansville closed the inning to make the score 15-8. In the bottom half of the ninth, the Purple Aces added another run to move the final score to 15-9.  

NOTES 

• Junior Graham Mastros tallied his second multi-home run performance of the season with two homers in the contest. Mastros added six RBIs, marking the most in a single contest in his career. Mastros' multi-home run performance is the third contest this season for a Redbird with two or more home runs. 

• Mastros tallied three hits in the game after adding a double in the eighth inning, and became the third Redbird this season with five games with three or more hits. 

• Sophomore Louis Bussard tallied his first multi-hit performance as a Redbird with three hits in the contest, including a two-RBI double. Bussard's four hits mark the most in a single game for the Lewisville, Texas native. 

• With four hits, Bussard joins fellow outfielders Luke Stulga  

• Sophomore Eric Machej notched three RBIs on the day to record his fourth multi-RBI game of the season. Machej becomes the fifth Redbird this season to tally at least four games with two or more runs batted in.    

• With a trio of base hits, Senior Kannon Coakley recorded his third multi-hit performance of the season and second with three hits in a contest. 

• Graduate Camden Karczewski added his 11th multi-hit game of the season with three hits. Karczewski's trio of hits marks his first game with three or more hits as a Redbird. 

• Redshirt Freshman Luke Teschke tallied 5.0 innings pitched with a career-high six strikeouts to earn his second career victory. In back-to-back starts, Teschke has limited opponents to only two hits and one run in at least five innings tossed. 

• Freshman Brayden Zilis made his first appearance on the mound, entering the game in the eighth inning. Zilis recorded his first career strikeout with a punchout to end the contest. 

• The Redbirds 15 runs scored in the game mark the most scored in a contest this season. Illinois State added 18 hits, which set a new season-high total and most in a contest since a 14-4 victory over Illinois last season on April 8. 

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