NORMAL, Ill. – The Illinois State baseball team played its first game of the 2017 season at Duffy Bass Field Tuesday and celebrated the homecoming with a 2-1 victory over visiting Saint Louis, the preseason favorite to win the Atlantic 10 Conference.
A two-out, tie-breaking RBI single from Nick Zouras in the eighth inning lifted the Redbirds over the Billikens. Mitch Vogrin pitched two scoreless frames to finish off the game and earn his team-leading third pitching victory of the season.
Saint Louis got a man to third base with two outs in the top of the ninth inning, but Vogrin induced a routine ground ball to shortstop on the next pitch to finish out the game.