May 25, 2019

By Tim McCaughan

Indiana State Athletics

NORMAL, Ill. -- Indiana State baseball will play on Championship Saturday for the first time since 2001 after knocking out two-seeded and host of the Missouri Valley Conference Championship Illinois State, 10-6, early Saturday morning at Duffy Bass Field.

The Sycamores (39-16) will turn around and take on top-seed Dallas Baptist at 3 p.m. ET Saturday, to force a winner take all Championship game with the Patriots at 8 p.m. The Championship contest will air live on ESPN Plus while Luke Martin and Brian Fritz will have the radio call on GoSycamores.com.

Indiana State jumped out to a 6-0 lead through five innings, thanks in part to Redbird miscues, and aggressive style of play at the plate and the base paths.

An error by the Redbirds (34-24) in the bottom of the first proved to be costly as Indiana States was able to plate two early runs. Senior Clay Dungan worked a leadoff walk and Jake Means reached on a fielder’s choice in which ILS third baseman Joe Butler looked to go to second to initiate the double play, but bobbled the ball allowing both runners to reach.

Jarrod Watkins would plate Dungan a batter later when the senior lined a ball to centerfield for his fifth base hit of the MVC Championship. ISU added another run in the first as Roby Enriquez grounded into a double play.

ISU went on to score runs in each of the next two innings of play to extend the lead over Illinois State to 4-0. Again, the Sycamores took advantage of sloppy play on the field by Illinois State as CJ Huntley reached on a throwing error on a hard-hit ball to third. Dane Tofteland (Grande Prairie, Alta.) made the Redbirds pay after lining a ball to left for the third run of the game.

ISU loaded the bases in the third following a Means single, Roby Enriquez single and a Chris Ayers walk. Huntley would drive in Means from third on a sacrifice fly, but left two runners on base. The Trees added two more runs in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Max Wright (Toronto, Ont.) and an RBI single from Tofteland.

Lost in all the offense of the Sycamores was the superb outing from senior right-hander Tyler Ward (6-3) who made his first start since 2018 when he threw a complete game shutout of the Patriots. Since then, Ward had been rehabbing an injury and worked exclusively out of the bullpen.

The Rockport, Indiana native allowed a single to leadoff the game to the Redbirds but afterwards retired 10-straight batters while the offense gave him a cushion.

In total, Ward went five and a third innings and allowed just one earned run while Illinois State was able to spray just two hits against him.

Aidan Huggins sent a one-out single through the left side in the sixth which signified the end of the day for Ward. His counterpart, Austin Cross entered from the bullpen and Illinois State’s John Rave welcomed him to the game with a two-run home run.

ISU recorded three-straight base hits to open the bottom of the sixth -- ISU was the home team against the host Redbirds due to Valley rules -- including two bunt singles from Means and Watkins to setup Chris Ayers with the bases loaded. The senior outfielder his second home run of the day for the Trees and the second grand slam in as many days after sending a no-doubter over the wall in right field to push the ISU lead to 10-2. It marked Ayers’ third home run of the season after he opened the season with a homer at Jacksonville.

The Redbirds scored four more runs in the game as ISU looked to preserve the bullpen for Saturday with the possibility of two games. ILS went for back-to-back doubles in the seventh from Joe Butler and Gunner Peterson before Huggins brought in the second run of the inning with a single to right center.

Valley Player of the Year Joe Aeilts hit a two-run homer in the eighth before the Sycamores finally stymied the Redbird offense en route to the win.

Brent Wicklund took the loss for the Redbirds, falling to 4-4 after giving up four runs (two earned) in four innings. Jack Anderson allowed four runs in two innings out of the bullpen.

ISU went for a tournament best 12 hits in the win while the Redbirds recorded eight.