Blueboys Wrap Up Weekend with Split at Cornell

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2
MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – The Illinois College baseball team split a doubleheader with Cornell College on Sunday, breaking a 15-game home winning streak for the Rams in a 5-3 victory before falling, 11-0, in seven innings to bring the four-game series to a close. Cornell moved to 13-7 (3-1 Midwest Conference) on the season while the Blueboys ended the day at 11-8 (1-3 MWC).

Illinois College begins a three-game home stand on April 12 with a 9-inning contest against Iowa Wesleyan University. First pitch is slated for 2 p.m.

Game One: Illinois College 5, Cornell 3
Badly in need of a win after falling twice to Cornell on Saturday, Illinois College put two runs on the board in the first inning and took a 5-1 lead into the seventh before hanging on for a 5-3 victory. Dylan Sunderland improved his record to 4-1 on the season after throwing a complete game and striking out six.

Sunderland escaped the first inning with a pair of Cornell runners on base to bring the Blueboys to the plate in the bottom half of the frame. With one down, Austin Peck singled to left field, putting one aboard for Cain Brady, who followed the senior catcher with a home run to left for a 2-0 lead for IC.

Cornell got one run back in the top of the third but it didn't take long for the Blueboys to add onto their lead. In the bottom of the fourth, Brady's second hit of the game to lead off the inning was the precursor to a two-run blast by Alec Wade, upping the IC lead to 4-1 after four. In the fifth, Seth Woollen led off with a single and eventually scored on a sacrifice fly by Brady to make it 5-1.

A two-out single by Cornell in the seventh brought the Rams back within two runs, but Sunderland controlled the action from there. A potential rally for Cornell after a lead-off single in the eighth was brought to a swift end with a 4-6-3 double play. The tying run came to the plate with two down in the ninth as well, but Sunderland brought the game to an end with a lineout to Wade at first.

Brady ended the game 3-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Peck, Wade and Woollen all had one hit and one run scored for IC in the game as well.

Game Two: Cornell 11, Illinois College 0 (7 innings)
The momentum of the game one victory failed to carry over to game two of the day as Cornell wrapped up a third win in the four-game series in just seven innings. The Rams got to IC starter Dylan Jones early on, scoring five runs before the sophomore was lifted from the game. By then, Cornell had all the runs it would need and Jones fell to 2-1 on the season.

After a scoreless first inning by Cornell, Austin Dormire led off the bottom of the inning with a single and advanced to second on a Peck sacrifice bunt. Dormire would end up stranded on second however and Cornell pushed four runs across in the second inning.

The Rams led off the second inning with a home run for a 1-0 lead and three more runs came across on three hits for a 4-0 edge. Another solo shot in the third increased Cornell's lead to 5-0 and spelled the end of the day for Jones. Meanwhile, the IC offense couldn't get much going against the Rams, going down in order in the third and hitting into a double play in the fourth.

One run in the fourth, four in the fifth and one more in the sixth provided all the offense that the Rams would need to complete the seven-inning victory.

Dormire and Bryce Rooney paced the attack for the Blueboys in the game with two hits apiece. Jared Guizzetti was the most effective reliever for Illinois College, striking out four in 1.2 innings. Devon Young pitched the final 2.0 innings and allowed just one hit and one run.