By: Down 6-1 after two innings, Illinois College came back but couldn’t make up the deficit in a 10-6 loss to Iowa Wesleyan University.
Box Score
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Errors were at the center of a 10-6 loss for the Illinois College baseball team against visiting Iowa Wesleyan University on Tuesday afternoon at Joe Brooks Field. The Blueboys committed six errors in the game and only three of Iowa Wesleyan's 10 runs were earned. Though IC got within two runs late in the game, the Tigers held on to snap a five-game losing streak. IWU improved to 8-14 on the season while Illinois College slipped to 11-9.
Trouble ensued right from the first at-bat of the game for the Illinois College defense. Iowa Wesleyan lead-off hitter Chazz Brown reached on an error at second base by
Bryce Rooney and scored on a double by Justin Katich to the wall in left for a 1-0 lead. A second error in the inning by the Blueboys scored another run for the Tigers and a sacrifice fly increased it to a 3-0 lead. A single back up the middle scored the fourth run of the inning for Iowa Wesleyan against IC starter
Luke Pannbacker, though only one of those runs was earned.
Illinois College answered back with one run in the bottom of the inning.
Cain Brady kept the inning going with a two-out single and
Alec Wade followed with his MWC-leading 10th double of the season to make it 4-1.
In the second inning, a two-out walk by Pannbacker brought Katich to the plate and his two-run homer to right-center increased IWU's lead to 6-1 after the second inning.
The Blueboys began to get back into the game in the bottom of the third. With Brady and Wade and first and third, a balk scored Brady to cut it to 6-2. Wade was then on third with two down for
Taw Fredrickson, who hit a single to center to make it 6-3 after three complete.
Both offenses hit a lull in the middle innings and a chance to cut further into the lead for Illinois College in the sixth ended with a strikeout from Iowa Wesleyan reliever Korbin Taylor. The Tigers then took advantage of two errors from the IC defense in the top of the seventh to tack on two runs and take an 8-3 lead going into the stretch. The answer from the Blueboys was immediate in the bottom half of the inning. Brady led off with a double and Wade walked to put two on with no outs. After Taylor retired one hitter, Fredrickson followed with a home run down the left field line, slicing the margin down to 8-6.
That was as close as it would get for the Blueboys. Illinois College left two runners aboard in the bottom of the eighth, and IC then allowed two hits and committed two errors in the ninth to allow two more runs from the Tigers for a 10-6 advantage. In their final turn at the plate, the Blueboys left two runners aboard and IWU held on for the win.
Illinois College outhit Iowa Wesleyan, 14-6, in the contest. Brady, Wade and Fredrickson all had three hits in the game and Fredrickson drove in four runs. Pannbacker ended the day throwing 5.0 innings, allowing four hits and six runs (three earned). He fell to 0-1 on the season while IWU starter Beau Parkevich improved to 1-0.
Illinois College will continue non-conference play at home on April 17 with a doubleheader against Morthland College starting at 1 p.m.
