By: The Blueboys opened their series against Cornell with an impressive sweep at Joe Brooks Field, winning 6-1 and 14-3.
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Box Score 2
JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team adapted to the tough playing conditions on Saturday, pounding Cornell College pitching on a rainy day at Joe Brooks Field.
Dylan Jones and
Austin Newton each went the distance and IC got after Ram pitching early in each game, sweeping Cornell by scores of 6-1 and 14-3. The Blueboys improve to 12-8 (3-2 Midwest Conference) on the season.
Illinois College wraps up the series with Cornell with a doubleheader in Mount Vernon, Iowa on April 18. First pitch is set for 3:30 p.m.
Game One: Illinois College 6, Cornell 1
Five runs in the bottom of the first inning was all Jones needed as the Blueboys claimed the opener. Jones struck out eight and didn't give up a run until the eighth inning, improving to 5-2 on the season.
Illinois College hit around in the first against Cornell starter Tony Clifton.
Joe Paparelli singled,
Austin Gusewelle walked and
Daniel Reed singled to load the bases with no outs.
Brendan Stanfield brought the first run home, getting hit by a pitch to force a run in.
Scott Kasting and
Grant Argyilan followed with RBIs on plays that produced outs, making it 3-0 with two down in the frame. A
Tim Sommerfeld double over the head of the right fielder increased the lead to 4-0 and
Colin Edwards added another run on a RBI single.
Jones stranded runners in the second, third, and fourth innings, then left the bases loaded in the fifth by striking out Cornell slugger Walker Breard. Illinois College tacked on another run on a RBI single from Edwards to make it 6-0 heading to the sixth.
The Rams went down in order in both the sixth and seventh innings before finally breaking through with a run in the eighth on a two-out single. Sommerfeld ended the threat with a nice diving snag of a line drive to leave two runners on base. Cornell put two runners on again in the ninth, but Jones got Caleb Wichman to fly out to Paparelli in left to end it.
Sommerfeld ended the game going 4-for-4, while Paparelli was 3-for-5.
Game Two: Illinois College 14, Cornell 3 (7 innings)
The Illinois College offense caught fire as the rain started to fall. The Blueboys trailed 2-0 going to the bottom of the third, but put 11 runs on the board in that inning and added three more in the fourth to take an insurmountable lead and end the game with Cornell in seven innings. Newton improved to 3-1 on the season with the win.
A strong defensive effort helped Newton early on. The Blueboys ended the first, second and fourth innings to end Cornell threats. The Rams were able to score twice in the top of the third, but the game was decided for all intents and purposes in the bottom of the third. With the bases loaded and one out, a
Dillon Hallemann single cut IC's deficit to 2-1 and Sommerfeld then walked to tie the score at 2-2. The next batter, Edwards laid down a suicide squeeze that brought Kasting in to score, while Hallemann circled the bases on an errant throw that made it 4-2.
That ended the day for Cornell starter Sam Kornstad. As the inning progressed, the Blueboys added RBIs from
Brandon Skovronski, Gusewelle and
Brendan Stanfield. That made the score 8-2, but IC wasn't done. A Kasting home run to right-center drove in
Bailey Reed and Gusewelle for a massive 11-2 edge going to the fourth.
Illinois College added a run in the bottom of the fourth on an error resulting from a good Skovronski bunt. RBIs from Paparelli and Gusewelle followed to make it 14-2.
Cornell attacked Newton early in at-bats the rest of the way, but couldn't get anything going until the top of the seventh. With two outs and needing just one more out to clinch the run-rule victory, the Cornell clean-up hitter doubled to the wall in right. That allowed a runner from first to score, but Stanfield's relay to Skovronski and onto Kasting was in time to nail Cale Jamesson as he tried to stretch it to a triple. With the score 14-3 and the Rams done in the top of the seventh, the game was called.
Skovronski and Hallemann each led the Blueboys with a 3-for-4 day at the plate.
