Stewart, Stanton power Redbirds past SIUE 5-0

[March 20, 2013]  EDWARDSVILLE -- Brock Stewart launched a two-run home run and Kyle Stanton added a solo shot as Illinois State (10-9, 0-0 MVC) blanked SIUE 5-0 Tuesday afternoon at the Simmons Baseball Complex in Edwardsville. It marked the second shutout in three games for the Redbirds.

JD Learnard (1-1) collected his first victory of the season, working five scoreless innings with five strikeouts and five walks. Steve Heilenbach fired a career-best 2.2 scoreless innings, and Will Headean (1) collected his first collegiate save, pitching 1 1/3 innings with four strikeouts. Caleb Wilkerson (0-2) took the loss, working 3 1/3 innings with one earned run allowed on three hits.

Zac Johnson launched his second double of the day with one out in the fourth inning to chase Wilkerson from the game. With Drew Staples pitching, Johnson launched a two-run home run over the fence in right field to put Illinois State in front 2-0.

Eric Aguilera added a two-run single in the sixth inning, scoring Mike Hollenbeck and Brett Kay.

In the ninth, Kyle Stanton launched his third home run of the season to cap the scoring at 5-0.

Headean entered a 4-0 game in the eighth inning and struck out Jacob Stewart with the bases loaded and two outs to preserve the shutout. He fanned three batters in the ninth inning for the save. Stewart left the game in the ninth inning after injuring himself diving for a ground ball.

The Redbirds return home for a three-game series March 22-24 versus Eastern Illinois.

[Text from news release received from Illinois State University]