By: Grinnell limited the Blueboys to three hits in the first game, then had its offense explode for eight first-inning runs in the back half of the doubleheader.
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Box Score 2
GRINNELL, Iowa – The Illinois College baseball team had Midwest Conference play get off to a rough start with a pair of losses to Grinnell College on Saturday afternoon, falling 4-0 and 15-3. The Blueboys are now 3-11 (0-2 MWC) on the season.
Sunday's doubleheader against Grinnell has been moved up one hour to accommodate for the chance of rain. Games at Pioneer Park will now be at 9 and 11:30 a.m.
Game One: Grinnell 4, Illinois College 0
Dylan Jones pitched well for the Blueboys in the opener, but the IC offense was limited to three hits – all in the first two innings – and a fourth-inning home run proved to be the difference. Jones fell to 2-2 on the season.
Austin Gusewelle singled in the top of the first, but that was followed by a pair of groundouts to the shortstop to end the inning. In the second inning,
Taw Fredrickson and
Connor Melton strung together back-to-back singles with one out, but a double play ended the inning. From there, IC reached base only via walks and one of those baserunners was erased by another double play.
Brad Weaver broke the deadlock in the bottom of the fourth with a one-out home run to left field. In the fifth, the Pioneers tacked on another run with a RBI double by Sam Galanek.
Jones continued on and made it through the seventh inning. With
Dentler Loschen on in relief, Grinnell added one final run with a home run by Nathan Zaroban to left.
Game Two: Grinnell 15, Illinois College 3 (7 innings)
Things got out of hand quickly in the second game of the day. Grinnell took a 2-0 lead on a one-out home run by Matt Hammond. With two outs in the inning, the Pioneers took advantage of two IC errors, two hit batters and four walks to tack on six more runs before the Blueboys could get out of the inning with an 8-0 deficit.
Grinnell added onto its lead with a run in the second inning. In the third inning,
Tim Sommerfeld singled home
Brendan Stanfield for the first Illinois College run of the game, making it 9-1.
The Pioneers tacked on another run in the bottom of the fifth for a 10-1 lead. In the sixth, the Blueboys loaded the bases with one away in the inning.
Eli Fox scored
Dalton Kerans with a sacrifice fly to right field. The next batter,
Alex Lilly singled home
Seth Woollen before being thrown out at second to end the inning.
In the bottom of the seventh, Grinnell led off the inning with a walk and then hit three straight singles to make it 11-3. Hammond then connected on his second home run of the afternoon, a grand slam, to make it 15-3 and end the game early.
Tyler Kozaritz took the loss, falling to 0-3 on the season. Sommerfeld led the offense, going 3-for-4 with a RBI in the game.
