The Illinois State baseball team dropped both games of Saturday's doubleheader to Tulane, 3-2 in game one and 9-3 in game two, at Turchin Stadium.

Starters Steve Heilenbach and Emerson Gibbs held the game scoreless through the first three innings.

In the fourth inning, the Redbirds put together three-straight two-out hits. Owen Miller started the rally with a single to center. Blake Molitor followed with a single of his own, putting runners at first and second. Sean Beesley provided the big hit, scoring Miller from second base to give the Redbirds their first lead of the series.

Illinois State added another run in the fifth inning. Jared Hendren led off the inning with a single to right field and stole second base. Later, Redbird freshman Tyler Paulsen smashed a ball over the left fielder's head to score Hendren.

Heilenbach worked through the first six innings with ease. Heilenbach then retired the first two Tulane hitters of the seventh inning before running into trouble. Tulane came up with three-consecutive two-out base hits. Jake Willsey delivered the big hit of the inning, a double down the left field line that scored two runs and tied the game at 2-2.

Both teams went scoreless until the 12th inning, when Tulane's Richard Carthon led off the inning with a single off Jack Landwehr. Tulane bunted Carthon over to second base. With two outs in the inning, Tulane leadoff man Stephen Alemais singled through the left side. Dwyer came up throwing to home plate, but his throw was just a second late as Cathron slid in head-first to score the game-winning run. Tulane walked off in game one, with a 3-2 victory.

In game 2, David Meade was sharp to start the game as he retired the first six batters that he faced.

In the third inning, Dwyer worked a walk with one out, and a batter later Kelch singled up the middle. Miller put the Redbirds on the board first with a two-out double down the left field line, scoring two runs.

Tulane answered back in the bottom of the third inning tying the game at 2.

Trailing 3-2 in the top of the sixth, Kelch tied the game with a leadoff home run to left field but Tulane scored six runs in the fifth inning.

Mitch Vogrin (0-2) was tagged with the loss after just one inning of work and one earned run. Tulane's starter, Alex Massey, took the win after throwing seven innings of five-hit baseball.

Meade went five innings, gave up four hits and three earned runs. The junior struck out four and walked three. Kelch finished the game 3-for-4 with a home run.

The Redbirds will head back home and prepare to play Eastern Illinois at Duffy Bass Field Tuesday. First pitch is scheduled for 4:30 p.m.

The two losses for Illinois State (7-16) pushed the Redbirds' losing streak to eight games, the longest stretch of losses since 2008.