By: Illinois College led until the eighth inning of each contest with Cornell, falling to the Rams by scores of 2-1 and 3-2.
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team came up on the short end of two contests at Cornell College on Saturday afternoon, losing to the Rams by scores of 2-1 and 3-2. The Blueboys fall to 10-7 (0-2 Midwest Conference), while the Rams improve to 12-6 (2-0 MWC).
IC and Cornell are back at it tomorrow in Mount Vernon, Iowa to complete the four-game set. Action at Ash Park Field will begin at 10 a.m.
Game One: Cornell 2, Illinois College 1
D.J. Davis took the tough-luck loss on the hill for the Blueboys, giving up his only two runs of the game in the bottom of the eighth as the Rams took the lead and held on to get the win. Despite going the distance and allowing only four hits while striking out eight, Davis dropped to 2-2 on the season.
Davis wasn't the only pitcher dealing in the first game of the day however. Eric Daubach went seven strong innings giving up only three hits. The junior actually had more runners reach base via walks than hits in the game and an error by the Rams in the seventh inning had him on the hook for the loss until he was bailed out by the Cornell comeback.
Illinois College had opportunities to take the lead throughout the game, but it took until the seventh inning for the Blueboys to jump ahead.
Taw Fredrickson started the inning off with a single and he advanced to second with one out on a single by
Bryce Rooney. Though
Seth Woollen struck out for the second out of the inning, a passed ball got each runner into scoring position and
Austin Dormire was able to reach on an error by TJ Rausch and Fredrickson hustled in from third to give IC the 1-0 advantage.
That changed quickly in the bottom of the eighth as the Rams put runners on second and third with no outs. A sacrifice fly by Joe Orisek tied the game at 1-1 and a second sacrifice fly, this time by Brandon Davis, put Cornell ahead, 2-1.
Zachary Greenwald slammed the door shut for the Rams in the ninth inning, picking up the save by sitting the Blueboys down in order and striking out two.
Game Two: Cornell 3, Illinois College 2 (10 innings)
The back-half of the doubleheader followed the same storyline for the Blueboys. After going ahead in the third inning and adding a second run in the fifth, Illinois College allowed Cornell to come back and tie the game in the eighth. In extra innings, two hits and an error pushed the winning run across for the Rams.
Tyler Kozaritz pitched solidly, shutting out Cornell for his six innings of work. The sophomore was in line for the win, leaving the game with the Blueboys ahead, 2-0, after striking out a pair and giving up only five hits.
Taking a page out of the Cornell playbook, Illinois College scored both of its runs in the game on sacrifice flies.
Austin Peck put the Blueboys ahead, 1-0, in the third by scoring Woollen from third. In the fifth it was
Cain Brady who brought Woollen home from 90 feet away for a 2-0 lead.
Following Kozaritz's exit,
Dentler Loschen came on in relief and put the Rams down in order in the seventh. The freshman had one on and two outs in the eighth when disaster struck in the form of a John Tesensky homer to left that knotted the score at 2-2.
The Blueboys left Woollen aboard in the ninth and
Connor Melton sat down three straight hitters in the bottom half to send the game to extras. A lead-off single by Peck in the 10th amounted to nothing and with one out in the bottom of the 10th, Cornell got singles from TJ Rausch and Wyatt Kurzejski. Woollen fielded Kurzejski's single in right and tried to get Rausch at third, but the throw was off-line and Rausch ended up coming in for the game-winning run.
Woollen led IC with a 3-for-4 game at the plate and had both runs. Peck was the other Blueboy with multiple hits in the game, going 2-for-4.
