TERRE HAUTE, Ind. – Senior Austin McDowell (Coal City, IL/Olney Central College) (Coal City, Ill.) went 3-of-4 at the plate with two RBI, but the Chicago State baseball team fell to host Indiana State Tuesday afternoon, 10-4, at ISU's Bob Warn Field. The Cougars dropped to 1-12 on the year, while the Sycamores improved their season record to 15-7 with the win.
ISU started the scoring in the second inning when freshman Jeremy Lucas lined an RBI single off CSU starter Scott Balcer (Palatine, IL/Harper College) (Palatine, Ill.) up the middle to plate senior Luke Fieser from third for a 1-0 lead. Three batters later, senior Ryan Strausborger hit a two-run double to increase the home team's lead to 3-0.
In the third inning, Fieser connected on a solo home run off Cougar reliever Luc Faron (St. Peters, MO/Francis Howell) (St. Peter's, Mo.) to hike the Sycamores' leading margin to 4-0. Freshman Robby Ort plated Tyler Graham, who singled and later stole third base, in the fourth inning that increased ISU's advantage to 5-0.
The Cougars came back to score four runs in the top of the fifth to pull within 5-4, highlighted by RBI doubles from junior Miguel Camacho (Chicago, IL/Oakton CC) (Chicago, Ill.) and senior McDowell, and an RBI single by redshirt sophomore Albert Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark) (Whiting, Ind.). Strausborger brought home a run in the bottom half of the fifth with an RBI fielder's choice that scored Lucas from third after leading off the inning with a single as ISU's margin grew to 6-4.
The home team added four more runs in the eighth inning on an RBI single from Graham along with RBI walks by freshman Jordan Pearson and senior Ben Farrell for the final margin.
In addition to McDowell, senior Kellon McFarlin (Chicago, IL/Meramec CC) (Chicago, Ill.) hit 2-of-4 and scored a run for CSU. On the mound, sophomore Michael Carpen (Whiting, IN/Clark) (Whiting, Ind.) and junior Billy Les (Oak Lawn, IL/South Suburban College) (Oak Lawn, Ill.) each recorded a scoreless inning with a strikeout, while Balcer (0-1) took the loss after allowing three runs on six hits in one and two-third innings thrown.
Fieser paced Indiana State with a 3-of-4 day offensively in addition to scoring three runs and two RBI, and Grant Grgurich hit a perfect 3-of-3 and scored a run.
CSU stays in-state tomorrow with another mid-week non-conference battle against Big Ten Conference member Illinois beginning at 6 p.m.
~CSU~
