By: It was a good day for offenses at Lenz Field on Friday. Illinois College and Cornell combined for 56 hits and 38 runs in two games to wrap up their four-game set.
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Box Score 2 JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team ended its first Midwest Conference series of the season with a four-game split against Cornell College. After taking one out of two yesterday to start off, the Blueboys did the same on Friday afternoon. IC was an 11-5 winner over the Rams in the day's first game before losing a lead and falling, 13-9, to Cornell to end it.
Illinois College now stands at 9-12 (2-2 MWC) on the year. Cornell moved to 11-11 (5-3 MWC). The Blueboys will next be in action on April 15 with a road contest at Eastern Illinois University slated for a 3 p.m. first pitch.
Game One: Illinois College 11, Cornell 5A close game through six innings took a dramatic turn late on as the Illinois College hitters lit up Cornell's bullpen to blow open the game. The Blueboys had three runs in both the seventh and ninth innings to put the Rams away.
The Blueboys got to Cornell starter Ty Hartman for three runs in the second inning.
Lucas Marlow got it going with a two-run double that scored
Dalton Kerans and
Jonathan Schrage. Following a sacrifice bunt from
Austin Peck to get Marlow to third, Hartman bounced a pitch away from catcher Josh Dimmitt to allow Marlow in, making it a 3-0 game.
Cornell responded back with a two-run blast from Walker Breard that made it 3-2, but otherwise Illinois College starter DJ Davis was in control much of the way. Despite unfavorable conditions for pitchers, both he and Hartman kept the opposing offenses uncomfortable for much of the way.
Kerans was able to kick-start the IC attack again in the top of the fifth.
Josh Krumwiede kept the inning alive with a two-out single and Kerans hit a no-doubter out beyond the right field wall for a 5-2 Blueboy lead. In the bottom of the sixth, Breard hit his second homer of the day and fourth of the series, this one a solo shot that made it 5-3 after six complete.
Hartman pitched to one hitter in the seventh, pegging Peck with a pitch and ending his day. Illinois College then battered the Cornell pen, scoring three runs off of Jared Henry to open up an 8-3 lead.
Nick Dalfonso doubled immediately off of Henry and
Austin Dormire scored Peck from third on a sacrifice fly. Schrage then tripled deep to the gap in left-center to bring two more runs in.
A lead-off homer from Beriah Quick in the eighth gave Cornell just a glimmer of hope, but Illinois College closed the door in the ninth with three more insurance runs. The bases were loaded for Schrage, who delivered a double to plate two runs and
Zac Schopp singled Schrage in to make it 11-4. The Rams were able to tack on one more run in the ninth but it wasn't nearly enough.
Davis ended his day by going 7.0 innings and picking up the win to improve to 2-2. Schrage led the offense with three hits and four RBIs. Dalfonso, Krumwiede, Kerans and Marlow each had two hits apiece.
Game Two: Cornell 13, Illinois College 9Illinois College appeared primed to sweep the doubleheader and take three out of four from the Rams before a middle-inning surge wiped out a large deficit for Cornell, who rode that momentum to claim the win.
With the wind only gaining intensity as the game went along, IC went up 2-0 after the first inning and 7-1 following the top of the third. The runs in the first came off a Kerans single into center field that was misplayed by Joe Gerace, allowing both Dormire and Krumwiede to score.
A sacrifice fly sliced the Blueboys lead in half in the bottom of the second before they exploded for five runs in the third inning. Dormire reached via an error to lead off the frame and Krumwiede exploited that mistake with a home run to left, making it 4-1. Kerans then singled, advanced on a wild pitch, moved to third on a ground out and scored on yet another wild pitch to increase the edge to 5-1. With two down, Schopp blasted another two-run shot over the wall in left for a six-run cushion.
Three Cornell runs in the bottom of the third indicated the game was far from over. The Rams put one on the board from a Breard ground-rule double and scored twice more on a RBI single from Brandon Davis.
Dalfonso scored in the fourth inning on a Krumwiede sacrifice fly, but after that run put Illinois College on top, 8-4, the well seemed to run dry for the offense.
Cornell gained steam in the fifth, scoring two runs to make it 8-6. It could have been more if not for a tough snag by Krumwiede that started a 4-6-3 double play. That defensive gem wasn't enough however. The Rams pounded out six hits in the sixth inning and scored four times to take a 10-8 lead.
After the Blueboys left the bags loaded in the seventh, Cornell increased its advantage with three more runs to take command. IC came back with one run on a RBI from Krumwiede in the eighth, but the Cornell pen acquitted itself much better in the second game and kept Illinois College in check the rest of the way.
Dylan Jones left the game for Illinois College in the fifth inning and ended with a no-decision.
Ethan Crain was saddled with the loss, falling to 2-3 on the year. Dormire had three hits and three runs scored in the contest for the Blueboys, while Krumwiede drove in four on a pair of hits.
