By: The Pioneers ran their winning streak to 14 games with 6-3 and 4-0 victories over IC on Sunday.
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Box Score 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team suffered two more losses to Grinnell College on Sunday at Joe Brooks Field as the Pioneers won their 13th and 14th straight games overall. Grinnell, the leaders of the Midwest Conference South Division, are now 26-4 and 12-0 in the MWC, while IC drops to 13-14 (1-7 MWC South).
The Blueboys will remain at home to host Monmouth College in a doubleheader at Joe Brooks Field on April 28 beginning at 12 p.m.
Game One: Grinnell 6, Illinois College 3
Graham Fisher was solid for six innings on the hill for Grinnell, helping stake his team to a 4-0 lead after two innings. The Blueboys came back to cut the deficit to 4-3, but the Pioneers extended the lead in the sixth and used their bullpen to shut down IC the rest of the way. Fisher moved to 6-1 with the win while
D.J. Davis fell to 3-3 on the season.
Fisher helped his own cause in the first inning with a triple that nearly cleared the wall in center to score two runs and give Grinnell the lead. In the second, the Pioneers loaded the bases with no outs and then singled for a 3-0 lead before Davis escaped the jam while giving up only one more run.
The game stayed at 4-0 until the fourth inning when
Anthony Lucchesi smashed a solo home run over the left-field wall to make it a 4-1 game. With Fisher's pitch count rising, the Blueboys added two more runs in the fifth. There were two down when
Bryce Rooney singled to shortstop and that was followed by a
Cain Brady double to put two runners in scoring position.
Austin Peck then smacked a double past the third baseman to score both runners, making it 4-3 going into the sixth.
The Blueboys briefly had a chance to tie in the sixth but left two runners on base. Grinnell then scored two runs in the top of the sixth against Davis and reliever
Jared Guizzetti to take a 6-3 lead. Illinois College stranded two runners in the seventh and one in the eighth and couldn't mount a challenge in the ninth.
IC ended with eight hits in the game. Brady was 3-for-5 with a run scored.
Austin Dormire added two hits. Davis went 5.0 innings, allowing 10 hits and giving up six runs (five earned). Guizzetti went 3.0 innings in relief while allowing only two hits and a walk.
Game Two: Grinnell 4, Illinois College 0
John Essig moved to 5-1 on the season with a complete game shutout, striking out 11 and giving up no walks to the Blueboys. IC had eight hits in the game but couldn't string enough together to score against the Pioneers.
Dylan Sunderland pitched well for Illinois College, but went to 5-2 on the season, striking out four and walking two.
The contest was scoreless until the bottom of the third. Playing small ball, the Pioneers singled to third and then had another runner reach on a bunt. A sac bunt from lead-off hitter Anthony Mack put the two runners on second and third with one out and a fly out to right field made it 1-0.
In the fifth, the bases were loaded with one out but Sunderland was able to escape while giving up only a sac fly by Niko Takayesu to make it 2-0 for Grinnell.
The Blueboys hit plenty of balls hard against Essig but couldn't get much going on the basepaths. IC left runners on in the seventh, eighth and ninth. Grinnell tacked on two insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth on a sac fly and a solo homer by Matt Godinsky for the final margin.
Dormire, Rooney and
Alec Wade all ended with two hits for the Blueboys, who were outhit by Grinnell, 10-8.
