Baseball Topped by Blackburn on Senior Night

Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team used an early power surge to take a lead on Blackburn on Wednesday night, but the Beavers shut down the Blueboys after the third inning and came from behind for a 10-7 win to spoil Senior Night for IC. With the loss, the Blueboys fall to 16-16 on the season.

Early on, the game looked destined to be a shootout. Blackburn took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first on well-executed hit-and-run to score Vinnie Birk from second base. It wouldn't last long however, as the Blueboys came back with three runs right away in the bottom half. Nick Dalfonso was hit by a pitch, then stole second and third for his 31st and 32nd stolen bases this season, setting a new Illinois College single-season record just one year after he set the bar at 30. Josh Krumwiede flied out to deep center field to bring Dalfonso in and tie the contest at 1-1. Later in the inning, Austin Dormire would score on a wild pitch and Zack Hanlon brought the big crowd to its feet with a solo home run to left.

In the top of the second, four hits and an error from the Blueboys allowed the Beavers to come back with four runs and take a 5-3 lead. It could have been worse if Birk hadn't attempted a steal of home as Jake Horve was delivering a pitch to Austin Peck, who made a clean catch then held onto the ball as the two collided at the plate where Birk was called out.

Peck was on base in the bottom of the second for Krumwiede to tie the game back up at 5-5 on a home run deep over the wall in left-center. The tie would last all of one batter, as Jonathan Schrage followed with a solo blast of his own, giving Illinois College the lead back again at 6-5.

After Horve settled in and got out of the third inning unscathed, Illinois College added a run in its turn at the dish. Connor Melton led off with a single and worked his way to third base with two down. There, Dormire singled past the Blackburn first baseman to increase IC's margin to 7-5.

The Blueboys were unlucky in the fourth inning. Blackburn was able to scratch a run across as a fine defensive play from Zac Schopp ended with a low throw to first that Matt Jagodzinski was able to stop but not squeeze at first base. With a runner on third at the time, the error allowed the Beavers to score once and close within one at 7-6. A ground-rule double in the fifth inning off reliever Dylan Sunderland found no-man's land in shallow right field and then bounced sideways into foul territory to score another run and knot the score at 7-7.

Both teams buckled in at that point. Sunderland and Blackburn reliever Kelan Doria got into rhythms and kept the basepaths clear all the way through the seventh inning. Dylan Jones came on in relief to bring the seventh inning to a close, but he fell into trouble in the top of the eighth. The bases were juiced with two outs for Shane Lewis to loft a softly-hit single into shallow center field. With runners going on contact, all three runs came across for Blackburn to take a 10-7 advantage.

There was little going for Illinois College in the eighth inning, but the Blueboys almost produced a dramatic victory in the ninth. Thanks to a walk and a pair of hit batters, IC had the bases loaded with one out in the inning and the heart of the order coming up. Doria was able to dig deep though, getting Dormire to pop out to the shortstop and Krumwiede to fly out to right field to end the game.

Jones took the loss for the Blueboys in the game, dropping his record to 3-3 on the year. Hanlon was 3-for-3 with a pair of walks on the night to pace the offense. Krumwiede and Melton each added two hits apiece.

Illinois College will shake off this loss quickly and come back this weekend with a Midwest Conference South Division title on the line. The Blueboys travel to Grinnell College for a four-game set with the Pioneers on May 2 and 3. The doubleheader on May 2 begins at 12 p.m. Both teams enter this final weekend of the regular season with identical 8-4 marks in the conference.