NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball program secured the series victory over Bradley with a 1-0 win Saturday afternoon at Duffy Bass Field. With the victory, the Redbirds move to 25-17 with an 8-9 record in Missouri Valley Conference play.
Redshirt Sophomore Carson Cormier led Illinois State with a gem on the mound to help record Illinois State's first shutout of the 2026 campaign. Cormier tossed a career-best eight scoreless frames and added eight strikeouts in the outing.
Graduate Reece Clapp recorded his eighth save of the campaign and moved to sixth all-time for the most saves in a single season in program. Clapp closed the contest with a pair of strikeouts to secure the Redbird victory.
Behind home plate, Junior Ryan Bakes played a pivotal role in maintaining the shutout as the Algonquin, Ill. native threw out three Braves runners to shut down Bradley's threat on the base paths.
Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes led the Redbird offense with a pair of hits, including the game-winning RBI on a single in the seventh inning. With two hits, Bakes recorded his team-best 21st multi-hit game of the season.
The Redbirds threatened early as Brayden Bakes tripled to place a runner into scoring position in the bottom of the first for Illinois State. Despite the early pressure, Bradley responded with a pair of strikeouts to maintain the score at 0-0.
In the next frame, Illinois State threatened once more as junior Michael Carrano Jr. hit a single, and sophomore Eric Machej walked, placing two runners on base for the Redbirds. However, Bradley managed to escape the inning with a groundout, to keep the score tied at 0-0.
Following back-to-back scoreless frames, Freshman Brayden Zilis looked to spark a Redbird rally, as the Minooka, Ill. native doubled to put a runner in scoring position for Illinois State in the bottom of the fifth. With the scoring threat posed by the Redbirds, Bradley worked out of the jam with a pair of flyouts to keep the contest level at 0-0.
In the seventh inning, the Redbirds loaded the bases with a pair of hit-by-pitches from Senior Josh Outlaw and Ryan Bakes, along with a walk from Zilis to set up Brayden Bakes' game-clinching RBI single and allow the Redbirds to claim a 1-0 advantage.
With the lead in hand, Cormier and Clapp tossed back-to-back 1-2-3 frames to secure the Redbird victory.
NOTES
- With the shutout, the Redbirds secured their first shutout since a 1-0 victory over UIC on May 11, 2025. In the shutout, Redshirt Sophomore Carson Cormier and Graduate Reece Clapp didn't allow a walk to record the first no-walk shutout since a 10-0 win over SIU on May 3, 2024.
- Cormier tossed a career-best eight innings and added eight strikeouts in the Redbird victory. In his last two starts, Cormier has combined for 15 shutout frames tossed and 21 punchouts without a walk allowed.
- Clapp recorded his eighth save of the campaign in the win and added a pair of strikeouts. Clapp moves to sixth in program history for the most saves in a single season. With his save total, Clapp leads all Missouri Valley Conference closing pitchers.
- Cormier and Clapp combined for 10 strikeouts in the win to record Illinois State's 16th contest this season with at least 10 or more strikeouts and have tallied a double-digit total in the last three contests.
- Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes tallied his team-best 21st multi-hit game of the campaign with two hits in the victory. Bakes extended his season-best reached base streak to 11 games.
- Freshman Brayden Zilis grew his reached base streak to eight games with a double in the win.
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.
