Dalfonso’s MWC Record Not Enough for Blueboys

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team gifted Carroll University a pair of wins on Saturday, committing a total of nine errors in 6-2 and 10-4 losses to the Pioneers. The bright spot on the night was Nick Dalfonso, who stole his 74th and 75th career bases to set a new Midwest Conference record in the category. The senior outfielder is now 10-of-11 on steals this season. 

With the two defeats, IC drops to a 5-5 overall mark on the season and will try to get back on track when it faces Greenville College on March 25 in a 3 p.m. start from Lenz Field.

Game One: Carroll 6, Illinois College 2
Dylan Jones ran into some trouble in his second career start following his MWC Pitcher of the Week performance from Illinois College's trip to Florida. Carroll worked the count effectively against the freshman and chased him from the game after four innings, at which point the Pioneers had built a 3-0 lead. After IC had cut into that lead, Carroll tacked on three insurance runs against Blueboy relief pitching to come away with the victory.

Carroll grabbed the lead in the top of the second inning on a two-out double from A.J. Johnson that was followed up by a RBI single in between first and second for a 1-0 lead. Jones escaped from that jam, but ran into more trouble in the third inning. Dylan Grove and Alex Olson strung together consecutive doubles to plate one run, then Olson moved to third base on a grounder to the right side of the infield and came home on a wild pitch to make it 3-0 after three innings.

The Pioneers had the bases loaded in the fourth, but the Blueboys escaped any further damage with a 6-4-3 double play. With Kevin Schuh on the mound, IC again turned an inning-ending double play in the fifth to keep it at a 3-0 score line.

Jonathan Schrage led off the fifth inning with a double that just sneaked inside the right field line. Austin Dormire came up with a RBI single two batters later to give Illinois College life at 3-1.

Johnson was hit by a pitch to start the sixth inning and that's when the trouble began for the Blueboys. The next batter, Hunter Frey, tried to bunt Johnson into scoring position, but an error from IC ended with Johnson coming all the way around to score. There were two on when lead-off hitter Tyler Schovanec doubled between Dalfonso and Dalton Kerans in right field to bring both around to score, making it 6-1.

Zack Hanlon pitched the seventh inning for Illinois College and struck out the side, but the deficit proved too much to overcome. Austin Peck led off the bottom of the seventh with a walk and he moved up to third on a Schrage single. But with two on and nobody out, a double play brought Peck in to score but effectively ended IC's hopes of a rally.

The Blueboys ended with six hits in the game, with Schrage and Dormire each connecting for three apiece.

Game Two: Carroll 10, Illinois College 4
Carroll got its offense going early in the second game of the doubleheader, then let Illinois College errors take care of the rest to earn the sweep.

The Pioneers loaded the bases with one away in the top of the first on Ethan Crain. The freshman hurler was able to get designated hitter Kyle Sykes swinging, but a two-out walk pushed the first run across for the visitors. That was followed by a RBI single from Clayton Schmitt that made it 3-0 before the Blueboys had a crack at the plate.

Dalfonso led off the IC half of the first with a lead-off double, then he moved to third as the center fielder bobbled the ball around the outfield. Josh Krumwiede would bring him in to score on a RBI groundout.

Illinois College made life difficult on themselves in the second inning. An error at third with one away started the problems for the Blueboys, but two men were down with only one on when things got out of hand. Dylan Grove hit a ball up the middle that shortstop Connor Melton fielded cleanly, only for his throw to Collin Dooley at first to sail high. That lapse allowed the first Pioneer run of the inning to score. Sykes would then single and two more runs would come across as a Dooley error put two more unearned runs up on the board for Carroll.

For a while, Illinois College was working its way nicely back into the contest. Seth Bland started a rally in the second by taking a pitch off the elbow and he sprinted around the bases after Schrage doubled to the wall in left center. Crain settled in and retired six of the next seven batters to get through the third and fourth innings unscathed, setting the Blueboys up to cut into the lead more in bottom of the fourth. Dooley led off the frame with a double and Melton poked a ball into center field for a RBI single.

Following a 1-2-3 fifth inning from Crain, IC pulled one more run closer when Dalfonso walked then stole his record-setting 75th career stolen base to get into scoring position. There were two outs when Kerans came to bat, but he found the no-man's land out in shallow left center to make it 6-4 after five.

The chance at a comeback stalled in the sixth inning though. Crain walked his first two batters and was lifted in favor of Dylan Sunderland. Two singles and an error would eventually allow three runs to score, giving the Pioneers a comfortable 9-4 advantage. Two more IC errors in the seventh added another insurance run in the 10-4 win for Carroll.