Trailing 2-0 through six innings, the Illinois State Redbirds rallied with two runs in the bottom of the seventh to force extra innings, but could not score in the extra inning, falling to the SIUE Cougars by a 7-2 final score.

 

Freshman Tyson Hays led the Redbirds by going 2-for-4 on the day, as the team's other five hits came from five different batters. Jack Butler and Hays scored the team's two runs, as Hays and John Rave drove in the runners.

 

The teams played through three scoreless innings, before the Cougars scratched the scoreboard first with runs in the fourth and fifth innings, jumping ahead to a 2-0 lead.

 

Butler hit a one-out single to put the first runner on base in the seventh inning, before Hays hit a two-out double to the left field wall, scoring Butler and cutting the deficit in half. A batter later, Rave singled to center field, chasing home Hays, and knotting the score at two runs apiece.

 

The Redbird defense came up big in the top of the eighth inning when the second SIUE batter of the inning advanced to third on a single and a two-base error; however, a batter later the Cougar batter hit the ball directly to shortstop Owen Miller who threw home to catcher Hays for the tag-out, keeping the tie score intact.

 

In the top of the 10th the Cougar offense erupted, scoring five times, while Illinois State was unable to get any offensive action in their half of the 10th inning, falling 7-2.

 

Illinois State returns to action today when they travel to Charleston to take on Eastern Illinois in at 3 pm.