By: The Scots hammered IC pitching for 27 runs in two games on Thursday afternoon.
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Box Score 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team fell in a doubleheader to Monmouth College on Thursday at Joe Brooks Field. The Scots had a combined 32 hits in the two games and won their sixth and seventh straight games by scores of 15-5 and 12-9 over the Blueboys. Monmouth improves to 17-15 (6-8 Midwest Conference South), while IC drops to 13-16 (1-9 MWC South).
Illinois College and Monmouth continue their four-game set on May 1 with games at 12 p.m. and 3 p.m. in Monmouth. Originally scheduled for Saturday, the two games have been pushed back 24 hours due to the rain expected throughout the region on Saturday.
Game One: Monmouth 15, Illinois College 5
Monmouth got an early lead against the Blueboys by scoring a run in the second inning and adding two unearned runs in the third. The Scots added on two more in the top of the fourth, ending the day for
Dylan Jones with IC trailing, 5-0.
Illinois College worked its way back into the game in the bottom of the fifth, scoring twice after loading the bases with none away.
Dawson Loschen,
Austin Dormire and
Bryce Rooney were all on base when
Cain Brady singled to bring both runs in. The rally stalled from there and Monmouth tacked on two more in the top of the six to wrest the momentum back from the Blueboys.
The Scots put the game away in the top of the seventh, adding four more runs to take an 11-2 lead. Illinois College tried to get back in the game, but were quickly running out of opportunities.
Connor Melton singled in
Austin Peck and Brady to make it 11-4, but every IC rally was answered by Monmouth.
Both teams were able to get runs in the eighth inning. Bryson Sheppard and Harry Sanchez scored for Monmouth, giving them a 13-4 lead over the Blueboys. By the end of the inning, Brady was able to get another RBI by singling to left center and bringing Dormire home. The Blueboys headed to the last inning trailing Monmouth by a score of 13-5. The Scots left no doubt in the ninth, plating two more runners for a 15-5 advantage and IC went down quickly in the bottom half to end it.
Illinois College went toe-to-toe with Monmouth on hits, pounding out 14 to Monmouth's 15. Dormire and Brady had two apiece for IC, while Peck and Melton added two each.
Game Two: Monmouth 12, Illinois College 9
A promising start to the second game was offset by five third-inning runs by Monmouth and the Scots added three more in the sixth after the Blueboys had come back to tie the game at 9-9.
Peck put Illinois College ahead in the bottom of the first inning on his team-leading sixth home run of the season to make it 2-0. That lead stayed until the top of the third as the Scots got to starting pitcher
Tyler Kozaritz for four hits and five runs to go on top, 5-2.
The Blueboys battled back with two runs in the bottom of the third, scoring twice on a single by Peck that brought
Seth Ferguson and Dormire home, making it 5-4.
Three runs by Monmouth in the top of the fourth were partially cancelled out by two runs in bottom of the inning that were scored on a homer by
Taw Fredrickson and the Scots took an 8-6 lead into the fifth.
After scoring once more in the top of the fifth, Monmouth allowed the Blueboys to come back and tie it in the bottom of the inning on a two-out rally. IC had no one on but then had six batters in a row reach base to knot the score at 9-9.
In the sixth, the Scots retaliated with three runs with two outs in the inning to retake a 12-9 edge over the Blueboys. This time, the lead would finally hold up. IC left one on in the sixth, two on in the seventh and ended the game in the bottom of the ninth with the bases loaded.
Fredrickson and
Anthony Lucchesi each tallied three hits in the second game for the Blueboys. Dormire and Peck added two each.
Ethan Crain was saddled with the loss in the late game.
