Redbirds Suffer Mid-Week Defeat To Southern Indiana Tuesday Evening

EVANSVILLE, Ind. –   The Illinois State baseball program fell to Southern Indiana 12-5 Tuesday evening at USI Baseball Field. 

The Redbirds jumped out to a four-run lead in the opening frame after Junior Graham Mastros drove in Junior Luke Stulga on an infield single to open Illinois State's scoring in the inning. Senior transfer and former Screaming Eagle Kannon Coakley added to the Redbirds' lead with a bases-clearing RBI double to push the Illinois State lead to 4-0. 

In the bottom half of the first inning, Southern Indiana used a trio of hits and a pair of walks to score five runs to claim its first lead in the contest at 5-4. In the third, the Redbirds responded as Graduate Camden Karczewski drove in Sophomore Eric Machej on a sacrifice fly to even the score at 5-5. 

Following a leadoff double in the fourth inning, Southern Indiana drove in a run to retake the lead at 6-5. The Screaming Eagles added another run in the bottom of the fifth to make the score 7-5. In the seventh, Southern Indiana added to their lead with five runs in the frame to grow its lead to 12-5. 

NOTES 

• Junior Luke Stulga recorded a 3-for-5 performance to tally his sixth multi-hit performance of the season. Stulga joins Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes for the most multi-hit games this season by a Redbird. 

• Senior Kannon Coakley tallied three hits in the contest, setting a new season-best mark. Coakley added three RBIs for his second three RBI performance this season. 

• Junior Kyle Manship entered the contest in the eighth inning to make his first appearance as a Redbird. Manship also recorded his first strikeout at Illinois State in the frame. 

UP NEXT

The Redbirds will look to regroup with a three-game series against Eastern Kentucky from Earle Combs Stadium in Richmond, Ky. First pitch for game one of the series is set for 4 p.m. CT on Friday, March 6.

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). 

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