PEORIA, IL ? On this day, the Indiana State baseball team made sure that the lead did not slip away from them. On this day, the Sycamores exploded for 13 runs in the top of the ninth inning in routing the Bradley Braves 16-2 in a Missouri Valley Conference game.
Indiana State (6-14 overall and 2-3 in the MVC) let a lead slip away from them in the final two innings of their first game against the Bradley Braves, a come-from-behind 8-7 Bradley win on Friday. The Sycamores and Bradley (10-11 and 3-2 in the MVC) will play the rubber game of their series at 2 p.m. (ET) Sunday.
Micah Spencer (2-2), who was the losing pitcher Friday night, started on the mound for the Sycamores Saturday and worked into the seventh inning in earning his second win of the season. Spencer allowed just one run while scattering seven hits. Josh Varno finished out the seventh and Brian Oliver took over to pitch the final two frames, earning his first save of the season.
Bradley took the early lead with a run in the bottom of the first but the Sycamores were able to tie the game in the second. Zane Chavez walked with one out and advanced to second on a David Brumagin single to right. Chavez came around to score ISU's first run of the game on a Pascual Del Real single.
Indiana State took the lead for good in the fourth with two runs coming across. After Brian Jett singled, Del Real got his second RBI of the game with a double to left center. Ryan Strausborger followed with a single to center that brought Del Real home and give ISU a 3-1 lead.
The Braves sought to get back into the game in the eighth when they were able to push over a run on two hits to close the gap to 3-2. But that was as close as Bradley would get on this day.
The Sycamores exploded in the ninth inning with 13 runs on eight hits and two Bradley errors, putting to rest any hopes that the Braves had of staging another come-from-behind win. The 13 runs tied a Bradley record for most runs scored by an opponent in one inning.
Indiana State batted around twice in the ninth as 18 batters went the plate. Gary King and Brady Shoemaker each had two doubles in the inning while Brian Jett also had a double, with Chris Schmidt, Chavez and Del Real each hitting a single.
The Sycamores finished with 16 runs on 18 hits. Del Real had a double, two singles and three RBI in four trips to the plate for the Sycamores in the game. Chavez had three singles and an RBI in four trips. King and Shoemaker finished with two doubles each, Schmidt two singles, Jett a double and a single, Ciolli, Brumagin, Ramirez and Strausborger had a single each.
