TERRE HAUTE, Ind. ? Indiana State played its final home game of the season and final game ever at Sycamore Field on Tuesday night against Atlantic 10 Conference foe Xavier. Unfortunately, the No. 26 ranked Sycamores (33-15) could not hold on to an early lead and dropped a 9-8 decision to the Musketeers (31-17) in non-conference action.
ISU reliever Kevin Mann (0-2) suffered the loss for ISU, after allowing four runs on three hits in two thirds of an inning pitched for the Sycamores. Xavier reliever Shane Liska (3-0) picked up the win in 1.2 innings of work on the mound for the Musketeers.
The Sycamores jumped out to an early 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning thanks to a RBI single by Nick Ciolli and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Luke Fieser that scored Brady Shoemaker. After Xavier cut the lead to one with a run in the top of the second inning, ISU got that run back in the bottom of the third inning when Shoemaker scored on wild pitch to make the score 3-1.
Indiana State tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to take a 6-1 lead. With one out in the inning, Brian Ramirez homered to left field to make the score 4-1. After a Ben Ferrell ground out, Ryan Strausborger homered to left field to widen the lead to 5-1. Kyle Burnam followed with a double to left field and Shoemaker was intentionally walked, which ended starter Josh Deeg's day as Liska came in. He then gave up a Ciolli single through the right side to pick up a RBI and cap off the three-run inning.
From there, things went downhill for the Sycamores as the Musketeers scored four runs in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 6-5 and then took the lead with four runs in the top of the sixth inning to take the lead at 9-6. A two-run single by Ryan Bellamy highlighted the comeback in the fifth inning and a three-run home run over the right field wall off the bat of Ben Thomas in the sixth inning capped off the eight-run rally.
ISU clawed back with two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to cut the Xavier lead to 9-8. With one out in the inning, Shoemaker and Ciolli picked up back-to-back singles and then advanced to second and third respectively when Fieser reached on a throwing error to load the bases. After fly out by Tyler Graham to left field for the second out of the inning, Joe Meggs ripped a single into right field to score Shoemaker and Ciolli and cut the lead to one headed to the ninth.
Reliever Cordell Greene shut down the Musketeers in the top of the ninth to keep the lead at one and give his offense a chance at a comeback. After a strikeout by pinch-hitter Bronco Lafrenz and a fly out by Strausborger, Burnam picked up a two-out single and was pinch-ran for by Koby Kraemer. Shoemaker was up next, but was fooled by Xavier closer Jordan Conley and struck out to end the game.
Ciolli finished the game 4-for-5 with a run scored and two RBI and Burnam also finished with four hits and two runs scored.
Indiana State returns to action on Thursday night, when they wrap up the regular season with the first of three pivotal conference games at Missouri State. First pitch is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. EST at Hammons Field and all the action can be heard live on GoSycamores.com.
