By: The Blueboys went 1-1 on Sunday with a 6-1 win over Lawrence and a 6-2 defeat against Beloit.
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Box Score 2
MAUSTON, Wis. – The Illinois College baseball team split a pair of games against Midwest Conference North Division foes on Sunday, defeating Lawrence University by a score of 6-1 before losing a 6-2 game to Beloit College. The Blueboys are now 9-21 (4-12 MWC) on the season.
IC closes out non-conference play on April 26 with a 3 p.m. game at Millikin University in Decatur, Ill.
Game One: Illinois College 6, Lawrence 1
Dylan Jones (5-2) continued to surge towards the end of this season, winning his third straight decision in a complete game five-hitter. The Blueboys put four runs on the board in the second inning and added to the lead with two more in the fifth.
Two of Lawrence's five hits against Jones came in the bottom of the first inning. Back-to-back singles put two on, but the IC defense then turned a double play that ended the inning with tag at home to keep the score 0-0.
In the top of the second,
Alex Lilly and
Mason Durdel led off with singles and
Brendan Stanfield doubled Lilly home for a 1-0 Illinois College lead. With one away,
Tim Sommerfeld singled to left to score Durdel. After Sommerfeld stole second to put two runners in scoring position,
Taw Fredrickson doubled both Sommerfeld and Stanfield home for a comfortable 4-0 advantage.
The Vikings got one run closer in the third when a batter was hit, stole second and then brought home on a RBI single. That would be the extent of the Lawrence offense on the day, however. After the third inning LU connected for only one other base hit, and that baserunner was ultimately thrown out attempting to steal. Jones faced the minimum otherwise.
The Blueboys gave Jones some insurance runs in the fifth to help his cause.
Alec Wade reached on a fielding error to start it off and
Brennan Bergstralh singled him to second. With one out and two on, Lilly doubled to the gap in right-center to bring both home for a 6-1 edge and IC handled things defensively the rest of the way to get the win.
Game Two: Beloit 6, Illinois College 2
The Illinois College offense failed to produce at the same rate in the second game of the day and Beloit finally broke open a scoreless tie in the bottom of the fifth inning, pulling away for the victory.
Dillon Hallemann pitched into the sixth, but took the loss to fall to 1-6.
The Blueboys had chances to take the lead, but left two runners on base in the second, third and fourth innings. In the bottom of the fourth, Beloit singled with two runners aboard, but Mike Gulve was thrown out at home by Stanfield to end the inning.
The Buccaneers broke the deadlock in the fifth. After Hallemann retired the first two batters of the inning, an error opened the door for a walk and a RBI single. With the bases loaded, Hallemann hit a batter to score another unearned run and make it 2-0. In the sixth, Hallemann left the game with two outs and one on. Following a walk, a single by Beloit scored another run, the first and only earned run of the day charged to the freshman pitcher.
Ethan Crain gave up a single and a run-scoring double to start off the bottom of the seventh and
Dentler Loschen then entered the game. He got two outs before allowing a walk and a RBI single to make it 5-0. That ended his afternoon and
Elijah Schlabach entered, giving up a RBI single before striking out a batter to end the inning with IC trailing, 6-0.
Illinois College got two runs back before the end of the game, but it was too little, too late.
Eli Fox and Wade singled to start the eighth inning and Fox scored when Durdel grounded into a double play, making it 6-1 through eight. In the ninth, the bases were loaded with two outs and Fox walked in a run to pull the Blueboys to within four at 6-2. The Buccaneers then made a pitching change and got Wade to pop out to end the game.
Lilly, Wade and Durdel all had two hits in the game, accounting for six of the eight that the Blueboys had against Beloit pitching.
