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Illinois State Sunday Double-Header Gives Them Series Win

After dropping a well-pitched, 1-0 decision to Arkansas State Friday and postponing Saturday's scheduled contest due to rain, the Illinois State baseball team (2-1) bounced back and won both games of a doubleheader Sunday at Arkansas State against the Red Wolves (1-2) at Tomlinson Stadium to win the three-game series.
 
Illinois State trailed 2-0 after the first inning, but got one of those runs back in the top of the third. Ryan Hutchinson doubled down the left field line to start the inning and later scored on a Joe Butler single for the Redbirds' first run of the game. The Red Wolves answered with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning and took a 3-1 lead into the fourth.
 
That's when the Redbird bats exploded, as Derek Parola drove in Collin Braithwaite for the first run of the inning and Noah Sadler hit the first home run of the season for ISU, a three-run shot that gave the Redbirds a 5-3 lead. A one-out, two-run double by Nick Zouras in the top of the fifth inning extended the Redbird lead to 7-3 halfway through the contest. A RBI double by Parola and a RBI single by Sadler in the top half of the seventh ballooned the ISU lead to 9-3, before a five-run eighth inning made it 14-3 in favor of the Redbirds.
 
Brent Headrick (1-0) picked up the win on the mound for Illinois State, as he allowed just three runs on four hits in five innings of work. 
 
The Redbird offensive attack picked up right where it left off in game one at the start of game two, as the 'Birds plated a pair of runs in the top of the first inning off ASU starter Peyton Culbertson (0-1). A one-out RBI double by Sadler was followed by a RBI single off the bat of Braithwaite to make it 2-0 early, but the Red Wolves trimmed that lead in half with a run of their own in the bottom half of the frame to make it 2-1. 
 
ISU added an unearned run off a RBI groundout by John Rave in the top of the second inning to make it 3-1.
 
The Redbirds would fire right back with three runs in the top of the fourth, on a RBI single by Joe Butler and a two-run, two-out single off the bat of Owen Miller to make the ISU lead 6-2. 
 
Illinois State would tack on two more runs in the top of the sixth inning on a RBI double by Sadler and a RBI single to left field by Braithwaite to widen its advantage to 8-2.
 
Three runs in the top of the ninth by the Redbirds would put the game away.
 
Colton Johnson (1-0) picked up the win in relief of starter Matt Walker, as he allowed just one unearned run on one hit while striking out three ASU batters in three innings of work. Miller led the way for the Redbirds offensively, going 3-for-6 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Sadler, Braithwaite, Aielts and Butler each added two hits and two RBIs apiece for ISU in the victory.
 
Illinois State returns to action next weekend, when it travels to Cookeville, Tenn., for a three-game series at Tennessee Tech beginning Friday.

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