March 20, 2007
Baseball
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

RYAN BOND'S HEROICS LIFT SYCAMORES TO EXTRA INNING VICTORY OVER MIAMI (OHIO)

OXFORD, Ohio – For the first time this season the Indiana State Sycamore baseball team played an extra inning game, and it was worth the wait as ISU downed host Miami (Ohio) by a score of 4-2 in 14 innings of play. The Sycamores won their fourth consecutive game to improve to 9-7 while the RedHawks dropped their home opener in falling to 7-9.

As the game drew near the four and one half mark in the top of the 14th inning, Ryan Bond, who strode to the plate for his seventh at-bat of the game with four hits, found right field for his fifth hit as he drove in Chris Schmidt and Nick Ciolli for a 4-2 lead. The game had been knotted at two since the bottom of the sixth.

Bond was clearly the hero of the game for the Sycamores, going 5-of-7 at the plate with a pair of RBI (including the game winner in the top of the 14th) and two stolen bases. All five of Bond’s hits were singles.

Josh Varno earned his first victory of the season to move to 1-1 on the season by pitching the final three innings, allowing one hit and a pair of strikeouts. Bailey Pratt took the loss for the RedHawks.

In the bottom of the 14th, Ciolli earned his second outfield assist of the game to throw out Tommy Nurre, who was trying to stretch a single into a double. Bond cleanly fielded the other two chances to help Varno and the Sycamores hold on for the 4-2 victory.

Ciolli’s first assist in the game came in the bottom of the sixth, to keep the contest tied and allowed the Sycamores to force extra innings and eventually the victory.

The Sycamores drew first blood in the game as they plated one run in the top of the third inning. With two outs, Chris Schmidt struck out swinging but the pitch reached the back stop to keep the frame alive. After Schmidt moved to second on a stolen base, Marcus Artner walked to puts runners at first and second with a pair gone. Schmidt was able to make it 1-0 on an RBI single by Brett Siegmund. Nick Ciolli nearly put more runs on the board as he hit a screaming line drive back to the Miami pitcher, Chris Niro, but he made a nice play to snag the ball and end ISU’s two-out rally.

In the top of the sixth, the Sycamores scratched together its second run of the game when Ciolli walked to lead off the inning and then moved to third on a single by Ryan Bond. Coilli scored to give Indiana State a 2-0 advantage on a slow RBI ground out by Sean Osborne.

Matt Shelton earned the start for the Sycamores and cruised through the first five innings, before walking one RedHawk and hitting another with a pitch to put runners at first and second. With two outs, Shelton gave up his first of the game in the sixth inning and it proved costly as Chris Nadeau drilled the ball right back up the middle to knot the score at two.

With Nadeau standing at the second base with a pair of outs, Adam Lindsay came in and allowed a hit to Miami’s Dan Leonard to right field. Ciolli took the ball and fired a strike to home plate which gunned down Nadeau and sent the game into the seventh inning tied at two.

Shelton finished with 5.2 innings pitched, allowing no hits and a pair of earned runs. He struck out seven batters, but walked three and hit a pair. Lindsey went 2.1 innings in the game, allowing a pair of hits and no runs to keep the game knotted during his stint. Chad Dawson mowed down the RedHawks in order in the ninth to send the game into extra innings for the first time this season for ISU.

Dawson went three innings in relief, allowing just one hit and striking out one.

ISU had runners at first and third with a pair of outs in the 12th inning, but Sean Osborne’s hard roller down the left field line was scooped by Leonard and fired across the diamond to end the threat.

In the bottom of the frame, Andrew Strange came on to hit the first batter and walk the second. With runners on first and second with no one out, Josh Varno took the mound and worked his out of the jam by getting an infield pop out, a strike out and a foul out by Siegmund, who caught the final out by leaning over the RedHawks bullpen wall.

Indiana State opens up Missouri Valley Conference play on Friday, March 23 when they travel to nationally-ranked Wichita State for the first of three games against the Shockers. First pitch on Friday is set for 8:00 p.m. (ET). All three games of this weekend’s MVC series can be heard live on WISU, 89.7-FM.

 

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