By: After more than a week away from game action, Illinois College couldn’t find its rhythm in 6-2 and 10-0 losses to the Prairie Fire.
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Box Score 2
GALESBURG, Ill. – In a series that started more than 72 hours after it was originally scheduled for, the Illinois College baseball team couldn't get the bats rolling on Tuesday afternoon and suffered 6-2 and 10-0 losses to Knox College. The Prairie Fire improve to 13-14 (6-8 Midwest Conference) and drop IC to 9-23 (4-14 MWC).
Illinois College closes out the regular season on Wednesday afternoon with a doubleheader against Knox at Joe Brooks Field starting at 1 p.m.
Game One: Knox 6, Illinois College 2
Trevan Lowtharp went 8.0 strong innings and struck out seven Illinois College hitters in the opener on Tuesday.
Dalton Leischner (0-1) took the loss, giving up five runs in 5.0 innings and struggling with control at times as he walked six.
Ethan Crain allowed one run on four hits in three innings of mop-up work.
The Prairie Fire took a lead they wouldn't lose the rest of the way in the bottom of the first inning. A lead-off single by Paul Sanders put a runner on and Matt McCaffrey singled him home with two outs in the inning.
Leischner worked out of trouble until the fifth when Knox put four more runs on the board. McCaffrey started the trouble with a lead-off single and Matt Mueller doubled him over to third. A fielder's choice grounder allowed McCaffrey to score for the first run of the frame. A pair of passed balls and a sacrifice fly tacked on three more to make it 5-0 going into the sixth.
Illinois College got its lone runs of the game in the top of the sixth when
Eli Fox hit a one-out single and
Alec Wade followed him with a two-run bomb to slice the deficit to 5-2. Knox added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth to make it 6-2 and the Blueboys left two stranded in the top of the ninth to end the game.
Taw Fredrickson was the only IC batter with more than one hit in the game, going 2-for-4 on the day.
Game Two: Knox 10, Illinois College 0 (7 innings)
Things didn't get any better in the second game for Illinois College. Knox scored four in the second inning and added three more runs in the third to take a commanding lead. From there, the Prairie Fire scored single runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings to end the game early.
Dillon Hallemann took the loss (1-7) after allowing seven runs (four earned) in 2.0+ innings of work. Stryker Davies went the whole way for the Prairie Fire, scattering six hits across 7.0 innings and striking out six.
After IC left the bases loaded in the top of the second, Knox jumped on Hallemann in the bottom half of the inning. An Alex Bell double was followed by a Ryan Weitendorf single for a 1-0 lead to start if off. Following a walk, a single and error plated another run. Two RBI singles followed before Hallemann could get out of the frame. Two more runs scored in the bottom of the third due in part to an Illinois College error before Hallemann was relieved by
Jake Schippert. Schippert gave up a sacrifice fly to center, making it 7-0, before getting out of the inning with groundouts to short and third.
The Blueboys continued to struggle against Davies in the fourth. After
Alex Lilly and
Robbie Cooper each singled and moved to second and third on a wild pitch, the Blueboys couldn't score either runner. A strikeout and two groundouts ended the threat. The Prairie Fire added another run in the bottom of the fourth, loading the bases with no outs before hitting into a double play that allowed a run in.
Drake Sykes hit a RBI single in the bottom of the fifth.
Brendan Barlow then relieved Schippert in the sixth and sat Knox down in order. After the Blueboys failed to score in the top of the seventh, the Prairie Fire loaded the bases on Barlow with one out and Bell singled in the winning run to end the game early.
Lilly and
Wyatt Parker each went 2-for-3 at the plate in the second game.
