MONROE, La. – The Indiana State Baseball team starts the season 1-0 after defeating the UL-Monroe Warhawks by a score of 11-6 on Friday night. The win is the first time the Sycamores opened the season with a win since 2010. ISU improves to 2-0 against UL-Monroe all-time.
The Sycamores scored first after Derek Hannahs recorded the first hit of the season, a double to left field. Hannahs then came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Andy Young. Jacob Hayes scored later in the inning after earning a walk. Hayes scored when Cody Gardner legged out an infield hit to give the Sycamores a 2-0 advantage after the top of the first inning.
The Warhawks rallied back in the bottom half of the inning, scoring three runs on two ISU errors, a walk and a hit by pitch.
ISU took the lead back in the second inning, scoring six runs on three hits and one ULM error. Hannahs contributed with a two-run single and Hayes added the exclamation point with a two-run home run.
UL-Monroe tacked on runs in the third and fourth innings to bring the game to 8-5, but could come no closer. The Sycamores added three insurance runs in the 9th inning to push the lead to 11-5. Keelin Raasch ripped a solo home run in the bottom of the ninth off of Ryan Keaffaber to reach the final score of 11-6.
Jeremy McKinney worked 3.1 innings in relief of starter David Stagg, allowing only one hit. Keaffaber came on to close out the game, allowing one run on one hit. Keaffaber earned his 12th career save and now owns the fifth-most career saves in ISU history.
Hannahs and Hayes led the way offensively for the Sycamores. Hannahs finished three-for-five with two RBI and two runs scored. Hayes went two-for-three including a two-run home run, and two RBI, three runs scored, a stolen base and drew two walks.
McKinney earned the victory for Indiana State, throwing in 3.1 innings, allowing one hit, no runs and struck out five batters.
The Sycamores return to action tomorrow when they square off against Grambling State at 3:00 p.m. (ET). It is the second of three games at the Warhawk Classic, hosted by UL-Monroe.
For the latest information on the Sycamore Men's Baseball team, make sure to visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media including Facebook and Twitter.
