Six Home Runs Lift Blueboys to South Division Lead

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

GALESBURG, Ill. – It's still early, but being in the pole position is never a bad thing. Behind a total of six home runs from Blueboy sluggers, the Illinois College baseball team swept Knox College in a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon, winning by scores of 16-6 and 13-9 over the Prairie Fire. IC improved its record to 11-13 (4-2 Midwest Conference) and took the lead in the MWC South Division by percentage points over Cornell, who holds a 7-5 conference record.

Illinois College will try to build on its success against Knox when it takes on the Prairie Fire again tomorrow in a doubleheader slated for 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. at Springfield's Sacred Heart-Griffin High School.

Game One: Illinois College 16, Knox 6
A hot start by both offenses left the score at 7-6 in Illinois College's favor after two innings, but the Blueboys put the clamps down from that point on and D.J. Davis ended with a complete game victory to move to 3-3 on the season.

Dalton Kerans and Jonathan Schrage each had RBI singles in the top of the first inning, but the big hit came from Zac Schopp in the form of a three-run homer to give Illinois College a 5-0 lead. Before the first inning was over, Knox would almost have the gap made up after the Prairie Fire pushed four runs across. The Blueboys gave up three hits, but also committed three errors in the field to give Knox a number of second chances. From that point on, IC would play error-free ball the rest of the game.

In the second inning, Illinois College pushed its way back out to a 7-4 lead on RBIs from Austin Dormire and Kerans. For the second inning running, Knox answered back. With two outs and two men in scoring position, Matt McCaffrey singled to plate both and pull the Prairie Fire back within a single run.

In the third inning, Illinois College again hammered Knox starter Alec Jordan and this time the home team wouldn't have an answer. A fielder's choice grounder from Connor Melton scored Schopp from third to make it 8-6. Next up was Austin Peck. His home run scored two more runs for the Blueboys, making it 10-6, and pushed a rattled Jordan over the edge. A walk, double and RBI ground out followed to increase the IC lead to 11-6 and end his day on the bump.

Davis got into a rhythm beginning in the bottom of the third. He sat down Knox in order that inning, as well as in the fourth, fifth and eighth. Meanwhile, the Blueboys grew the lead to eight runs in the top of the fifth with three more runs to make it 14-6. The bases were juiced with one away for Josh Krumwiede, who delivered a sacrifice fly to right field for the first run. Kerans then doubled the other two runners home.

The game stayed right there until the top of the ninth when Dormire kept the inning alive on a two-out single for Krumwiede, who smashed his fourth home run of the season to give the Blueboys a double-digit lead entering the bottom half. Davis allowed a one-out walk that inning, but the runner was erased on an attempted stolen base with Peck whipping the ball down to Melton for the second out.

In all, the Blueboys pounded out 20 hits, including four from Dormire, who ended 4-for-5 at the plate with a walk and three runs scored. Schrage, Kerans and Peck also had three hits apiece in the game.

Game Two: Illinois College 13, Knox 9
If the first game was a walk in the park, then the second game turned into Illinois College hanging on for dear life. Ahead 9-3 through five innings, the Blueboys saw all of their six-run lead dissipate by the ninth inning until a Schopp home run bailed the team out.

Early on, things looked like a repeat of the early game. Schrage blasted a two-out home run to bring Dormire and Krumwiede around to score, making it 3-0 right away in the first inning. IC would then add another run in the second inning on a RBI single from Nick Dalfonso to up the edge to 4-0.

Against starter Luke Pannbacker, Knox came back on a pair of RBI doubles in the bottom of the second to cut the lead in half at 4-2. In the third, three straight singles ended with one run across for the Prairie Fire to make it 4-3 before Pannbacker was lifted for relief pitcher Ethan Crain. Crain was able to work out of the jam with an around-the-horn double play from Schopp to Krumwiede to Brendan Stanfield to end the inning.

In the top of the fourth, another five-run outburst from Illinois College seemingly put the game to rest. Schopp led off with a solo home run, making it 5-3. Singles from Stanfield and Peck put runners on the corners for Dalfonso, who singled in Stanfield to increase the margin to 6-3. Later in the inning, Peck would score on an error from reliever Marty Salazar, and Krumwiede plated two more runs on him before Knox went to the pen again for Austen Lake.

The lead remained 9-3 for Illinois College until the bottom of the sixth. Crain cruised through the fourth and fifth, but ran into trouble right away to start the sixth. Two runners were aboard when Kevin Schuh entered, but the freshman was ineffective on Saturday and left without recording an out. A wild pitch and an error gave Knox two of its runs in the inning, all leading up to a three-run shot from Drake Sykes to bring the Prairie Fire back to within a run again at 9-8 before Zack Hanlon pitched the Blueboys out of trouble.

After all the fireworks, both teams had a quiet seventh inning and the Blueboys couldn't score Lucas Marlow from second base in the top of the eighth. In the bottom half of that frame, Knox completed the comeback by scoring once on Hanlon, a RBI single from Brandon Dempsey following a triple from Sykes.

A Dormire single to start off the ninth inning ended an effective relief stint from Lake and brought Sykes to the mound. Krumwiede immediately singled to put two runners aboard and Kerans scored Dormire from second on another single, giving the lead back to Illinois College. There was one down and two aboard when Schopp came to the plate. A pair of home runs already on the day wasn't enough for Knox to pitch him carefully and a three-run blast –  his team-leading fifth of the season – took the fight out of the Prairie Fire for good. 

Schopp capped off his monumental day by pitching the ninth inning and earning the win, moving to 1-0 on the season.

IC ended with 15 hits in the back-half of the twinbill, led by three hits from Krumwiede. Dalfonso, Schrage, Schopp and Peck all ended with a pair of hits for the Blueboys. Schopp drove in four runs in the game, while Schrage added three of his own.