WICHITA, Kan. ? No. 2 seed Indiana State faced a must-win situation on Thursday against No. 6 seed Illinois State, with the winner essentially moving into a tie with host Wichita State for the lead in Pod 2. However, the Sycamores (33-20) could not figure out the Redbirds (25-22) for the second time this season and dropped a 7-3 decision in their second game of the 2009 State Farm Missouri Valley Conference Tournament at Eck Stadium.
Indiana State starter Joe Rodriguez (7-3) struggled on the mound for the second consecutive outing and gave up six earned runs on eight hits over four innings of work to suffer the loss. Illinois State starter Ryan Camp (6-3) picked up the win, after giving up just three earned runs on six hits in six solid innings on the bump. Reliever Ryan Copeland pitched the final three innings and did not allow a hit to pick up his first save of the season.
The Redbirds jumped out to an early 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning off Rodriguez. Mike Stalowy singled through the right side of the infield to plate the first run of the inning and Anthony Ruffalo later added a two-run double to cap off the first-inning scoring. Illinois State then tacked on a run in the bottom of the second inning on a leadoff home run by Gabe DeMarco off the scoreboard in left field to extend their lead to 4-0.
After a scoreless third inning by both teams, Illinois State tacked on another run in the bottom of the fourth inning to make the score 5-0. Cole Marty tripled to deep left center field to lead off the inning and then came around to score on a sacrifice fly to left field to extend the lead to five runs.
The Sycamores quickly answered that runs with a run of their own in the top of the fifth inning to cut the lead to 5-1. With one out in the inning, Brian Ramirez was hit by a Camp pitch and then stole second base to give the Trees a runner in scoring position. Following a ground out by Ben Ferrell, Ryan Strausborger placed a single into right field over the head of Stalowy at second to score Ramirez for the first run of the game.
The Redbirds answered that run with one of their own in the bottom of the inning, when Matt Mirabal walked with the bases loaded to force in Illinois State's sixth run of the game. However, the Sycamores battled back in the top of the sixth inning to cut the lead in half at 6-3. After Luke Fieser reached on a fielder's choice, Brian Jett launched a long home run to left center field, his ninth of the season, to get the Sycamores back into the game.
That would be the last time the Sycamores would score in the game though, as Copeland shut down the Indiana State offensive attack over the last three innings and the Redbirds tacked on an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh inning to send the game to its final at 7-3.
Nick Ciolli picked up two hits in the game to extend his hitting streak to 19 games for the Sycamores and Jett had the big blow in the game to finish with two RBI.
No. 2 seed Indiana State will wrap up pool play on Friday at Noon EST against No. 5 seed Southern Illinois at Eck Stadium.
