Down to its final strike, the Illinois State baseball team rallied to score three runs and shocked Illinois 4-3 at Illinois Field on Wednesday.

The Illini had led the entire game and entered the ninth clinging to a 2-1 lead. But ISU pinch-hitter Kevin Konsler singled to start the inning.

With one out, Konsler stole second and advanced to third when junior catcher Chris Robinson’s throw sailed into centerfield. The next Redbird hitter, Lee Fischer, grounded sharply to third for the second out.

That brought up ISU leadoff hitter Chris Frank. Illini junior pitcher James Morris quickly worked the count to 1-2 against Frank, but then threw a wild pitch, scoring Konsler and tying the game.

Frank then two-hopped a ball to third, but Illini senior third baseman Chad Frk overthrew senior first baseman Dusty Bensko, and Frank wound up at second.

Redbird catcher Jay Molina then singled in Frank, giving ISU the lead. After rightfielder Matt Bolt singled, Molina scored on Illinois’ third error of the inning when Morris overthrew Bensko on an attempted pickoff move, making the score 4-2.

But the Illini wouldn’t go down easily. They quickly loaded the bases with one out, and Robinson slapped an infield single to short, cutting the score to 4-3.

That brought up Bensko. The Illini clean-up man laced a 1-2 curveball into shallow centerfield, and Redbird centerfielder Kris Jenkins came charging in.

Jenkins dove and caught the ball and quickly threw into second behind Illini baserunner Ryan Rogowski for the game-winning double play.

Illini head coach Itch Jones said he didn’t see Jenkins’ catch, so he was unable to argue whether or not it was caught.

“My concern was making sure the guy (Gardenhire) tagged up at third base, the guy (Rogowski) at second base has to read that,” Jones said.

“In that situation he’s just got to go back to second base and stand on the base. If it’s caught, we tie the game, if its dropped, we wind up with the bases loaded.”

The win was ISU’s fifth straight, and improved their record to 17-18, while the loss dropped the Illini to 20-11-1.

The Illini scored first in the fourth inning on an RBI groundout by Bensko and scored again in the fifth on a double by senior second baseman J.R. Kyes.

The Redbirds finally broke onto the scoreboard in the seventh inning on a sacrifice fly by Fischer.

One bright spot for the Illini was junior pitcher Jake Stewart. Stewart, who began his career at ISU, threw four innings out of the bullpen, allowing only two hits and two walks, while striking out four.

“I was very pleased with the performance tonight by Jake Stewart,” Jones said. “I thought he did a very good job for us, I thought the bright spot for us today, was Stewart.”

The Illini will head to Indiana this Thursday for a four-game series against the Hoosiers this weekend.