By: Wichita State
Box Score WICHITA - A three-run home run and another solid starting
pitching performance helped the Wichita State Shockers (24-17, 4-3) beat the
Illinois State Redbirds (24-11, 4-3), 5-1 on Friday night in front of 4,006
fans at Eck Stadium.
Charlie Lowell (7-5) tossed seven innings scattering eight
hits and two walks to earn the victory.
The junior left-hander allowed just one run and struck out nine
Redbirds. Illinois State
right-hander Corey Maines (7-1) took the loss after he went 6.1 innings and
allowed five runs on 11 hits.
Johnny Coy was 1-for-4 with a home run and four RBI and Preston
Springer was 2-for-3 with a double, an RBI and a run scored.
Wichita State broke the game open in the seventh with Coy's
fourth home run of the season off of the leftfield scoreboard to give the
Shockers a 5-1 lead. Coy's
home run scored Chris O'Brien, who hit a one-out ground-rule double and
Springer, who drew a walk.
The Shockers got things going early in the first inning when
Tyler Grimes led off with an infield single to the shortstop and extended his
hitting-streak to ten games. Kevin
Hall followed Grimes and dropped a perfect bunt down the third base line to
give the Shocks men on first and second.
A fielder's choice to second by O'Brien left runners on the corner for Springer,
who drove in Grimes with his 11th double of the season to give WSU a
1-0 lead. Coy extended the WSU
lead to 2-0 with his RBI groundout to second.
Illinois State scored their only run the next inning behind
one out singles by Josh Colon and David Fallon to give them runners on the
corner. Colon would score on a
fielder's choice sacrifice bunt by Bryan Huff to cut the WSU lead to 2-1. Lowell escaped further damage with
back-to-back strikeouts of Kevin Tokarski and Chad Hinshaw.
Game two of the three-game series will be tomorrow with a
first pitch set for 2:00 p.m.
-WICHITA STATE-
