By: Down just a run going into the bottom of the fifth, IC gave up eight runs that inning and were defeated in eight innings on Wednesday afternoon.
Box Score CARLINVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team fell behind on Wednesday afternoon in a road matchup with Blackburn College, but appeared to have righted the ship after pulling to within a run in the fifth inning. That's when the wheels fell off for the Blueboys as Blackburn scored eight times in the bottom half of the fifth and eventually came away with a 15-5 win. IC drops to 6-8 on the season.
Freshman hurler
Ethan Crain got the start on the hill for the Blueboys and was solid in his first two innings of work. He got Blackburn's Brock Hill swinging to end the first inning with a runner on third and allowed just one runner to reach base via a walk in the second inning.
In the third inning, Illinois College took a lead that proved to be short-lived.
Connor Melton singled to start the inning and
Austin Dormire moved him along with a base on balls. There were two outs in the inning and Melton on third when
Jonathan Schrage hit a slow roller towards shortstop that he beat down the line for an infield single, putting the Blueboys on top, 1-0.
Things went downhill for Crain in the third inning. With the wind consistently blowing out and at times howling, the Beavers led off the inning with a double off the wall in center field. The tying run came into score on a sacrifice fly that again went deep into the outfield, though
Nick Dalfonso was able to make a play on the ball for the out. With one aboard, Matt Mokriakow hit a two-run blast out to right field for a 3-1 lead. The next batter, Hill, made it back-to-back home runs with a solo shot to left-center, giving Blackburn a 4-1 edge through three.
Crain kept Blackburn off the board in the fourth inning, thanks in part to an amazing catch by Dalfonso, who made the grab just as he crashed into Blackburn's unforgiving outfield wall. Perhaps jump-started by their defense, the Blueboys came back with two runs in their next trip to the plate. Schrage reached on a one-out error and he moved up 90 feet on a hard-hit single from
Josh Krumwiede. The pair then each advanced into scoring position on a wild pitch from Blackburn starter Tim Hillis. Schrage came in on a RBI groundout from
Dalton Kerans and Krumwiede touched home on a passed ball, making IC's deficit just one, 4-3, entering the bottom of the fifth.
A single, walk and a double to start the bottom of the fifth gave the Beavers a 5-3 lead and ended the day for Crain. It also put reliever
Kevin Schuh in a tough spot with two on and no one out. Schuh's first hitter singled on a ball that just stayed fair down the right field line and brought both base runners in to score. From there, it was just a case of bad luck for the freshman. Against Shane Lewis, Schuh made a nice snag on a hard-hit ball back up the middle, but the ball got caught in the webbing of his glove. A heads-up play to throw his glove to
Matt Jagodzinski at first was a half-step too late and Lewis was safe. Schuh then fielded his position again facing Kelan Doria, only this time the pitcher tried to throw to
Zac Schopp at third to get the lead runner and Jon Lowry was able to scramble back safely, loading the bases. Joey Szerletich came on to pinch-hit and delivered a single that plated two runs. An error scored two more and a wild pitch brought one more Beaver across to give Blackburn a 12-3 cushion.
Illinois College made one last run at the Beavers, scoring twice in the top of the sixth. A two-out error from Blackburn allowed Schrage to come to the plate and his single on a liner into center field scored Dormire and Dalfonso. The Blueboys then put one aboard in the seventh inning with one out when Schopp and
Austin Peck ran into some terrible luck. Peck was on first when Schopp skied a ball into shallow right field. Blackburn second baseman Vinnie Birk drifted back and made an over-the-shoulder grab while Peck was caught in no-man's land waiting to see if the ball would drop in for a hit. Birk then chucked the ball across his body back to first to double off Peck by a step and end the seventh.
Zack Hanlon had pitched a 1-2-3 sixth inning in relief but gave up one run in the seventh and Blackburn scored twice more on him in the bottom of the eighth. The final run gave the Beavers a 10-run advantage and ended the game.
Schrage, Krumwiede and Kerans all ended with two hits each in the contest, with Schrage driving in three of the Blueboy runs. Crain took the loss for IC, dropping to 1-2 on the season.
Illinois College continues its five-game road trip on Friday afternoon, facing Washington University in St. Louis on April 3 in a 3 p.m. start.
