By: Tied at 3-3 through six innings, both offenses picked up late in the game but the Blueboys were able to outlast the Big Blue in the 9th.
Box Score DECATUR, Ill. – A ninth inning rally from Millikin University ended with the tying run on second base and the Illinois College baseball team came away with its fifth consecutive victory on Tuesday afternoon. Leading almost the entire way, the Blueboys had to hold off a late charge from the Big Blue, but escaped with an 8-7 victory. IC improves to 14-13 in advance of its important Midwest Conference series against Monmouth College.
Continuing the torrid offensive attack the team used in its sweep of Knox this past weekend, the Blueboys took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on a
Nick Dalfonso lead-off single and RBI double from
Josh Krumwiede. With two down,
Jonathan Schrage brought Krumwiede home from third on a RBI single through the left side.
Jake Horve controlled Millikin for the first four innings, keeping the Big Blue off the scoreboard until the bottom of the fifth and giving Illinois College time to tack another run on in the top of the third.
Zack Hanlon led off the inning with a base hit and scored with two outs on a RBI double from
Zac Schopp that stayed fair down the left field line.
An error helped the Big Blue score once in the fifth inning and two runs came home in the sixth inning, the last on a balk that tied the score at 3-3. The Blueboys picked Horve up with three runs in the top of the seventh to keep him in line for the win though. With two on, Hanlon singled to score
Austin Peck and Dalfonso, giving IC a 5-3 edge. Later in the frame, Hanlon stole third base and then scored on a throwing error from the Millikin catcher to double up the Big Blue at 6-3.
Horve faced one batter in the seventh before giving way to
Kevin Schuh. Horve ended the day by spreading four Millikin hits across six innings. The Big Blue ended up scoring once in the seventh to bring it back to a two-run game at 6-4.
The score stayed there until the ninth when the Blueboys scored a pair of runs that ended up making all the difference.
Dalton Kerans doubled to the gap in left-center with two outs to score both Peck and Krumwiede, making it an 8-4 game entering the bottom half of the inning.
Schuh was effective through the seventh and eighth, but ran into issues in the ninth after two singles opened the inning for Millikin. Illinois College then got the lead runner on a grounder to
Connor Melton at shortstop that ended in the glove of Schopp for the first out at third base. The next hitter reached on an error however, and a single followed to score the first run of the frame for the Big Blue, making it 8-5 and putting a runner on third. Next up was a sacrifice fly that plated the runner from third, putting two down in the inning but slicing the lead further.
After another single from Millikin made it 8-7, the Blueboys went to the bullpen with the tying run on second. A series of substitutions were made and Schopp moved from third to pitch. It took him one batter to earn the save, inducing a ground out to
Matt Jagodzinski at first base, ending the game with IC still in possession of its one-run advantage.
Horve picked up the win to improve to 1-2 this season. The save was the first of the year for Schopp.
IC had 12 hits in the game as a team, led by three from Hanlon and two apiece from Dalfonso and Kerans.
Illinois College comes back home on Thursday afternoon, hosting the Monmouth Scots in a doubleheader at Lenz Field starting at 12 p.m.
