PEORIA, Ill. – Indiana State baseball evened their weekend series with Bradley Saturday afternoon as the Sycamores defeated the Braves, 9-3 at Dozer Park. The Sycamores scored seven of their nine runs in the ballgame with two outs.
 
Indiana State (16-9, 2-3 MVC) used a five-run second inning capped off with a three-run home run off the bat of Dane Giesler. The Sycamores went on to score a pair of runs in the third as well as single runs in the seventh and eighth innings to cruise to the victory.
 
Junior outfielder CJ Huntley got things going for the squad in the second with an RBI groundout, one of his team-high four RBIs on the day. Brandt Nowaskie battled at the plate for an RBI single to right field to make it a 2-0 lead before Giesler pounded his fifth home run of the season over the wall in right field.
 
Huntley would continue the scoring for the Sycamores in the third with a two-RBI double to left field to make it a 7-0 game. Chris Ayers and Huntley would each drive in a run each in the seventh and eighth to pad the Indiana State lead.
 
It wasn't until the fourth inning that Bradley (16-8, 3-2 MVC) would break into the scoring column as Andy Shadid picked up an RBI groundout. Bradley tallied two more runs in the bottom of the seventh on a pair of doubles but it wasn't enough.  
 
Left-hander Triston Polley picked up the win, improving to 5-1 on the year after going 6.2 innings and allowing just four hits to the Braves. Polley struck out four batters in the game and allowed just two earned runs.
 
Tyler Whitbread was solid out of the bullpen. The right-hander finished the final two and a third innings, giving up just one hit and striking out two.
 
Clay Dungan, Jake Means and Brandt Nowaskie each tallied a pair of hits for the Sycamores. ISU outhit Bradley 10-5 in the contest.
 
Sam Lund (3-1) took the loss for Bradley after going just three innings and allowing seven runs.
 
The two squads will play the rubber game of the series Sunday at 1 p.m. ET from Dozer Park.
 
For the latest information on the Sycamore Baseball team, be sure to visit GoSycamores.com. You can also find the team on social media on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.