NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball program wrapped up the 2026 home slate with a 15-4 run-rule victory in seven innings over Eastern Illinois on Tuesday evening at Duffy Bass Field.

The win moves the Redbirds to 32-20 as Illinois State enters the final weekend series of the 2026 regular season. Tuesday night's victory marked the 16th win at Duffy Bass Field in 2026 for the Redbirds to secure the most wins at home in the Steve Holm era and the most since 2013.

The Illinois State offense sparked once more with 18 hits in contests to record the fifth game this season where the Redbirds have tallied a hit total of 18 or more. With five home runs in the victory, Illinois State captured the most home runs in a single contest since the season-opening win over SEMO on Feb. 13.

Junior Luke Stulga headlined the Redbirds' offense with three hits, including a pair of home runs, to record his first multi-home run performance of his career. The Tinley Park, Ill. native added a career-best five RBIs in the victory with four delivered on his run-rule walk-off grand slam. Stulga joins teammate Brayden Bakes as the second Redbird this season to record a run-rule walk-off grand slam.

The Redbirds trailed early as Eastern Illinois rattled off a pair of base hits and drew a walk to load the bases to begin the contest. The Panthers capitalized with the bases loaded and delivered a first-inning grand slam to take a 4-0 advantage in the opening moments of the game.

Despite the deficit, Illinois State responded in the second inning as Sophomore Eric Machej delivered a solo home run to ignite the Redbird offense and cut the Panther lead to 4-1. Moments later, after singles from Junior Jackson Manning and Sophomore Louis Bussard, Senior Nolan Barry added a run to the Redbird tally to make the score 4-2. With a pair of runs across in the frame, Brayden Bakes notched an additional pair of runs for Illinois State with a two-run home run to even the score at 4-4.

As momentum shifted in favor of the Redbirds, Illinois State's offense continued to rally as a single from Machej and a double from Manning placed two runners in scoring position in the third inning. With a pair in scoring position, Bussard delivered a two-run single to give Illinois State a 6-4 advantage after three.

After claiming the lead in the third, Illinois State added another pair of runs, as Junior Michael Carrano Jr. recorded his seventh blast of the season with a two-run shot following a leadoff single from Junior Graham Mastros to make the score 8-4 in favor of the Redbirds.

Following a scoreless fifth, Stulga recorded his first home run of the evening with a solo shot to left field to push the Illinois State advantage to 9-4.

In the seventh, Manning tallied his third hit of the contest with a single, and Bussard reached on a Panther error to put two runners on base in the early moments of the frame. Moments later, Barry singled up the middle to score Manning and give Illinois State a 10-4 lead. 

As the Redbirds plated a run early in the frame, they looked to continue their rally as Mastros reached on an infield single to load the bases for Illinois State. With the bases loaded, Carrano Jr. drew a walk to score a run and extend the Redbird advantage to 11-4 and set the stage for Stulga's run-rule walk-off grand slam to secure Illinois State's 15-4 victory.

NOTES

• Junior Luke Stulga recorded a career-best total with five RBIs in the victory, including four on the run-rule walk-off grand slam. Stulga joins teammate Redshirt Sophomore Brayden Bakes with the second mercy walk-off grand slam this season.
• Stulga recorded a pair of home runs, marking the most in a single game for the Tinley Park, Ill. native. The three-effort tallied Stulga's 10th career contest with three or more hits and his 22nd overall multi-hit game of the campaign.
• Stulga becomes the fifth Redbird this season to post a five-RBI performance and ranks second on the team with 12 multi-RBI contests.
• Junior Michael Carrano Jr. added his fourth contest with three or more hits in the win, including a two-run blast in the fourth inning. Carrano Jr. tallied an additional RBI to record his fourth performance of the season with three or more RBIs.
• Junior Jackson Manning recorded his first multi-hit contest as a Redbird in his second career start. Manning led Illinois State with three runs scored in the victory.
• Junior Graham Mastros notched three hits in the victory to record his 22nd multi-hit game of the season. Mastros extended his hitting streak to 10 games to add his second double-digit hitting streak of the campaign.
• Sophomore Eric Machej recorded his 10th multi-hit game of the season with a pair of hits, including his fifth home run of the season. Machej becomes the eighth Redbird this season to tally 10 or more games with two or more hits.
• Sophomore Louis Bussard notched a pair of hits and two RBIs in the win to record his sixth multi-hit contest of the campaign.
• Brayden Bakes recorded his 14th home run of the season with a two-run shot in the second inning. Bakes now sits fourth in program history for the most hits in a single season.
• Senior Nolan Barry added a pair of RBIs in the win to record his fifth game this season with two RBIs.
• Freshman Brayden Zilis earned his first career victory after tossing the longest outing of his rookie campaign with 4.0 innings pitched and added a career-best mark of five strikeouts.
• The Redbirds matched a season-best with five home runs and the most since the season-opening victory over SEMO on Feb. 13.
• Illinois State captured its fifth victory of the season with 18 or more hits in the contest.
• With the win, the Redbirds improve to 9-2 against opponents from the Ohio Valley Conference and capture the first back-to-back victory over the Panthers since 2014-15.
• Illinois State concludes the home slate with a 16-3 mark to capture the highest win percentage at Duffy Bass Field in over 20 years.
• The home win total marks the most victories at Duffy Bass Field in the Steve Holm era, and the most wins at home since 2013.
• In the last three seasons, Illinois State has secured 12 or more wins in contests played in Normal, Ill.

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