By: Dylan Jones set the tone for the day by carrying a no-hitter into the seventh inning in the opener of a four-game series between IC and Monmouth.
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team took the first two games of a four-game series with Monmouth College on Friday. The Blueboys had solid pitching performances in each game, including a three-hitter from
Dylan Jones in the opener. IC improved its record to 7-16 (3-7 MWC) on the year, while Monmouth slipped to 8-11 (2-4 MWC).
The four-game series between IC and Monmouth concludes tomorrow with two games at Joe Brooks Baseball Field beginning at 12 p.m.
Game One: Illinois College 4, Monmouth 1
Jones was the story in the first game of the series, going the distance to improve to 3-2 on the season. Jones carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning and struck out 13 hitters, not allowing a run until the bottom of the ninth inning.
For much of the way, it appeared that a fourth-inning run by Illinois College would provide the different.
Alec Wade singled to start the fourth inning and an error by Monmouth pitcher Tyler McDonald allowed him to move to second base. From there, Wade went to third on a passed ball and
Brendan Stanfield singled him in for a 1-0 lead.
Other than a first-inning error from the Illinois College defense, Jones was cruising through the early portions of the game. He struck out two in the first inning, one in every inning from the second through the fifth, and two more in the sixth despite another IC defensive error.
Following a strikeout from Jones to start the bottom of the seventh, Monmouth was finally able to break up the no-hitter with a single back up the middle of the infield. Jones retired the next batter with another strikeout and then induced a soft grounder to
Tim Sommerfeld at second to end the inning.
Jones struck out two more Monmouth hitters in the bottom of the eighth inning to set the stage for the top of the ninth. A single by
Dalton Kerans and a double from Stanfield put two runners in scoring position with no outs.
Eli Fox singled Kerans home and a
Seth Woollen bunt single loaded the bases.
Mason Durdel then singled, scoring Stanfield and pinch-runner Zack Seymour for a 4-0 lead.
The Scots had their most luck against Jones in the ninth inning, but the junior was able to work his way out of it. A single and a walk started the inning. From there, a fielder's choice put runners on the corners with one away. Following a RBI single for Monmouth's only run of the game, Jones struck out his 13th batter of the contest and then got a lineout to right field to end it.
Game Two: Illinois College 8, Monmouth 5
After falling behind early by a pair of runs, Illinois College took the lead for good in the fourth inning and held off a Monmouth charge in the sixth to sweep the doubleheader.
Dentler Loschen (2-2) went 5.1 innings and got the win.
Dalton Leischner came on in relief to pitch 2.1 innings and
Tyler Kozaritz went the final 1.1 innings to get the save.
Monmouth put two runners on base in the second inning prior to a weather delay of more than half an hour. Coming out of the delay, the Scots scored on a RBI groundout and a two-out single to left field for a 2-0 lead.
That lead held until the fourth inning. Wade led off with a double and scored immediately as Stanfield doubled him home. After Stanfield moved up 90 feet on a wild pitch, Fox singled into left to tie the score at 2-2. The next batter up, Kerans, homered over the wall in left to give IC a 4-2 advantage.
The Blueboys tacked on two more in the top of the sixth. Woollen and
Mason Durdel started it off with base hits and
Alex Lilly brought Woollen home on a grounder through the right side of the infield for a 5-2 lead. Later in the inning,
Taw Fredrickson hit a sacrifice fly to deep left to score Durdel.
Loschen ran into trouble in the bottom of the sixth and Monmouth came back for three runs, making it a 6-5 game before Leischner came on in relief and got a double play ball to Lilly at shortstop to end the inning. The freshman then cruised through the seventh and into the eighth before giving up a two-out single. Kozaritz came on for Leischner at that point and got a fly out to center to bring the eighth inning to a close.
A two-out error in the ninth inning kept the Blueboys alive and they responded with two insurance runs. After Fox reached on an error, Kerans was hit by a pitch and Sommerfeld walked to load the bases. Woollen was up next and hit a single to right field to plate a pair of runs, making it 8-5.
In the bottom of the ninth, the Scots started off with a walk, but a 6-4-3 double play erased the base runner and ended their hopes of a comeback.
Kerans was the leading hitter for IC, going 3-for-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Lilly was also 3-for-4 with a RBI and Woollen added two hits in the game.
