Baseball Erupts for Seven in Seventh to Take Series Opener at Illinois State, 12-1

Friday, April 1

Normal, Ill.

5:30 P.M.

Xavier University

9-17

Illinois State

7-18

Xavier

Illinois State

Baseball Erupts for Seven in Seventh to Take Series Opener at Illinois State, 12-1

04.01.16 | Baseball

Box Score

Joe Gellenbeck homers twice, Musketeers put up biggest inning of season in rout

By: Brendan Bergen, Xavier Athletics Communication

NORMAL, Ill. – It was a pitcher's duel early and an offensive explosion late for Xavier baseball, which put up 11 runs combined in the seventh and eighth inning to take Friday's series opener against Illinois State, 12-1, at Duffy Bass Field.

The game was scoreless before XU exploded for seven runs in the seventh, marking the most runs plated by the team in an inning this season. The Musketeers added four more in the eighth to reach double figures in runs for the third time this season.

Xavier (9-17) snaps a two-game losing streak, while Illinois State dropped to 7-18 overall with its 10th straight loss.

XU AT THE PLATE

• Xavier's 12 runs were tied for its second-most of the season. The Musketeers (13 hits) also recorded 10 or more hits for the 10th time this season.
• Dan Rizzie (3-for-5, 2 R, 2 RBI), Joe Gellenbeck (3-for-4, 2 HR, 6 RBI), Chris Givin (2-for-4, 2 R) and Rylan Bannon (2-for-3, 2 R, 2 2B) all put up multi-hit performances.
• Will LaRue (1-for-5, 2 R, RBI), Andre Jernigan (1-for-5) and Blaine Griffiths (1-for-1, RBI) all added hits for XU.
• Gellenbeck homered in the seventh and eighth inning for his first multi-homer game of his career. The junior outfielder put up a career-high with six RBI and now leads Xavier with eight homers and 22 RBI on the season.
• Dan Rizzie is now batting .447 (17-for-38) with 10 runs scored and nine RBI in his last 10 games. He leads Xavier with 11 multi-hit games this year.
• LaRue, Rizzie, Gellenbeck, Givin and Bannon all scored twice.
• Xavier went 7-for-18 (.389) with runners on base and 5-for-12 (.417) with runners in scoring position.
• Chris Givin recorded his fourth two-hit game of the season in just his 12th start, raising his batting average to .295 on the year.

XU ON THE MOUND

• Zac Lowther fired six scoreless innings, striking out seven and scattering five hits to lower his season ERA to 2.93. The sophomore lefty has lasted at least six innings in all seven of his starts this season.
• Taylor Williams allowed an unearned run in the seventh before giving way to Matt Kent, who struck out a pair in a scoreless eighth.
• Jason Hall pitched a spotless ninth, closing out the game with one strikeout.

HOW THE MUSKETEERS SCORED

SEVENTH INNING: Chris Givin led off the inning with a single, advancing to second on a sacrifice by Nate Soria. Rylan Bannon was then hit by a pitch before Blaine Griffiths singled to right field to make it a 1-0 game. After Matt Fallon walked, Will LaRue singled to center to bring in Bannon. Dan Rizzie followed with a two-run double to right center. With two still on, Joe Gellenbeck launched a homer to right to make it 7-0 Musketeers.
EIGHTH INNING: Rylan Bannon led off with a double to right, moving to third on a ground out and coming in to score on an error. After a Dan Rizzie single, Gellenebeck homered in his second straight AB to make it 11-1.
NINTH INNING: Chris Givin was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning, advancing to second on a passed ball. After a walk by Jason Suchanek, Roger Danison moved Givin over to third on a grounder. Givin then scored on a passed ball to make it a 12-1 game.

NEXT UP

• XU plays game two of the weekend series at Illinois State on Saturday at 3 p.m. ET. Brad Kirschner gets the ball for the Musketeers.