By: A 6-2 win in the first game of the day on Sunday ensured that the Blueboys would hold onto at least a share of the Midwest Conferece South Division lead entering the final weekend of the regular season.
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2 MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team guaranteed that it will enter the final weekend of Midwest Conference play at least tied for the lead in the South Division after splitting with Monmouth College in a doubleheader on Sunday afternoon at Monmouth's Glasgow Field. The Blueboys opened with a 6-2 win, but couldn't complete the sweep of the doubleheader, falling 11-1 in seven innings in the day's second game. IC is now 16-15 (8-4 MWC South), while Monmouth moves to 15-16 (6-6 MWC South).
Illinois College comes home to Jacksonville on Wednesday for a Senior Night matchup against Blackburn College starting at 7 p.m. from Lenz Field. The two representatives from the MWC South will be determined next weekend and the Blueboys will be in search of a division crown when they travel to play Grinnell College on May 2 and 3.
Game 1: Illinois College 6, Monmouth 2A trio of two-run innings to start off the game gave Illinois College all the offense it would need in the opener.
D.J. Davis cruised through eight innings and
Dylan Sunderland struck out the side in the ninth to clinch the game for the Blueboys.
Nick Dalfonso led off the game with a walk and stole second on Monmouth starter Joe Kerulis, coming around to score immediately on a single from
Austin Dormire to give the Blueboys a 1-0 lead in the top of the first. With Dormire on second,
Dalton Kerans singled to score the junior outfielder, doubling the IC advantage to 2-0.
Following a 1-2-3 inning from Davis in the bottom of the first, the Blueboys came back with two more runs in the second inning. There were two outs and no one on when Dalfonso doubled to start the rally. An error from the left fielder on a batted ball from Dormire allowed him to come home. On a stolen base attempt, Dormire came into score on an error from the third baseman.
In the third inning, Kerans led off with a single and was on second base after a wild pitch with one out.
Matt Jagodzinski scored the sophomore on a single and
Connor Melton drove in
Zac Schopp later in the frame to make it 6-0.
Monmouth had its golden opportunity come and go in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Scots had two runs across with no outs, but Davis retired the side on a popout to Jagodzinski at first base, a strikeout and a grounder to Jagodzinski.
From that point on, neither offense had much to show for itself. The Scots left one runner aboard in both the seventh and eighth innings, but couldn't put much together on Davis. Sunderland got each of the three Scots he faced in the ninth to go down swinging.
Kerans and Jagodzinski had two hits apiece for the Blueboys in the first game. Dalfonso and Dormire each had a hit and a walk to set the table for the middle of the IC batting order. Davis improved to 4-3 on the year with the win.
Game Two: Monmouth 11, Illinois College 1Things were scoreless for the first two innings until Monmouth put four runs on the board in the third inning and built the lead from there, eventually cutting the game short by going ahead by 10 runs after seven innings.
Zack Hanlon had no difficulties in the first two innings, but the Scots loaded the bases twice in the third inning and twice had two-run singles to take a 4-0 lead. Illinois College tried to get back into the game in the fifth inning, but
Jonathan Schrage was gunned out at home following a Jagodzinski single. The lone IC run in the inning came from Schopp off of a wild pitch from Monmouth's Brandon Harroun, making it 4-1.
The Scots came right back with another four runs in the bottom of the fifth, this time with everything coming after the Blueboys had recorded the second out of the inning. A pair of two-run hits made it 8-1 and ended the day for Hanlon. Sunderland was eventually able to end the inning, but the damage had been done.
Monmouth closed it out with two runs in the sixth and another run in the seventh on
Luke Pannbacker. A double and a RBI single in the bottom of the seventh closed it out and gave the Scots the early victory.
Illinois College managed just four hits in the game on Harroun. Kerans had two of them, ending 2-for-3. Hanlon took the loss to fall to 1-2 on the year.
