BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Indiana State head coach Mike Perniciaro picked up career win No. 300 as the Sycamores split a pair of games on Sunday afternoon to close out the weekend at the Bulldog Classic.
 
Game One
The Sycamores fell to Boston College in game one of the day, with the Eagles winning 10-2 in five innings.
 
Indiana State struck first in the game, scoring twice in the bottom of the second. Cassie Thomerson came home to score on a Danielle Henning sacrifice fly followed by an RBI groundout from Grace Hunger that would score Kennedy Shade to give ISU a 2-0 lead.
 
Boston College would answer in a big way, scoring six runs in the top of the third. The Eagles launched a pair of three-run home runs in the frame to give them a 6-2 lead. They recorded five hits in the inning while sending 10 batters to the plate.
 
The Eagles strung together a four-run inning in the fifth to put Boston College up 10-2.
 
ISU got base hits from Abi Chipps and Bella Peterson in the bottom of the frame but were kept off the board which gave Boston College the run rule victory after five innings of play.
 
Peterson went 2-for-3 in the contest including a stand up triple in the bottom of the third that was just inches from clearing the wall in left center.
 
Annie Tokarek had the only other hit of the afternoon for the Sycamores as they finished the game with four. Boston College recorded 11 hits in the contest.
 
Cassi Newbanks got the start for the Sycamores and allowed seven hits and six earned runs across 2.2 innings. She was replaced by Hailey Griffin who gave up 4 runs (one earned) on four hits over 2.1 innings of work.
 
Game Two
Head coach Mike Perniciaro picked up his 300^th career regular season victory as the Sycamores defeated host Samford 7-5 to close out the weekend.
 
ISU jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second inning after three Sycamore hits in the inning. Amanda Guercio led off the frame with a double off the wall in right center and would come around to score on a Lexie Siwek single. Danielle Henning then drove in Siwek with an RBI single to center.
 
With two outs on the top of the fourth, Annie Tokarek extended the Indiana State lead to 3-0 with a solo blast to left for her second home run of the season.
 
Samford responded with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to make it a 3-2 game.
 
The Sycamores exploded for four runs in the top half of the fifth inning to grow their lead to 7-2. Bella Peterson and Isabella Henning led the inning off with singles followed by a Guercio walk to load the bases. Isabella Henning and Peterson would score off of a Samford fielding error. Kennedy Shade then ripped a double into right center which would score Danielle Henning and Grace Hunger who pinch ran for Guercio. Shade would be thrown out at third to end the inning trying to extend her hit into a triple.
 
The Bulldogs chipped away at the lead with a pair of RBI singles that plated three runs to make it a 7-5 game.
 
Lexi Benko would come back into the game to replace Adamson and induce a Samford ground out to leave the bases loaded.
 
Benko set down the Bulldogs in order in the seventh to secure her fourth win of the season.
 
She finished the game with two strikeouts across 6.1 innings while allowing two earned runs on seven hits.  Adamson got two outs in the sixth inning in release.
 
Seven different Sycamores picked up a hit as ISU finished the game with seven hits while Samford had 10.
 
The victory snaps a three-game losing streak for Indiana State as the Sycamores improve to 8-5 on the season.
 
Around the Horn
At the plate this weekend, the Sycamore offense was paced by Bella Peterson who went 6-for-13 (.462) and Isabella Henning who finished 4-for-13 (.308). Peterson improved her season average to .432 and now has 19 hits, both of which are tops in the MVC.
 
Lexi Benko picked up her fourth win of the season which is the second most in the conference.
 
Indiana State and Samford have now split a pair of matchups for the second straight season.
 
Up Next
Indiana State will travel to Memphis, Tenn. next weekend for the Blues City Classic hosted by the University of Memphis.

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