By: Monmouth moved into a tie for first place in the MWC’s South Division after downing Illinois College twice on Saturday.
Box Score 1 |
Box Score 2
MONMOUTH, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team had a tough time stopping the Monmouth College offense on Saturday in a doubleheader at Monmouth's Glasgow Field. The Scots exploded late in the game for a 15-5 victory in game one. Later in the day, Monmouth hit double-digits again with a 10-6 win to sweep the four-game set from the Blueboys. Illinois College is now 13-14 (4-8 Midwest Conference South Division) on the season, while the Scots improve to 22-10-1 (11-5 MWC South).
MWC South Division play continues for IC on April 30 with a doubleheader at Cornell College. Games are scheduled for 3:30 and 6:30 p.m. in Mount Vernon, Iowa.
Game One: Monmouth 15, Illinois College 5 (8 innings)
The day got off to a good enough start for the Blueboys. A three-run first inning helped Illinois College establish a 4-1 lead that lasted until the bottom of the sixth. Things went downhill from there however, with Monmouth taking the lead with five runs in the sixth and then a nine-spot in the eighth inning to end the game early.
Scott Kasting and
Grant Argyilan had RBI singles in the first inning for Illinois College to grab a quick 3-0 lead. A run from Monmouth in the bottom of the first was answered with a RBI single by
Mason Durdel in the third inning to keep the Blueboys ahead by a score of 4-1.
Dentler Loschen was cruising until the sixth when Monmouth started the inning with three straight hits to make it 4-2. A pair of fielder's choices drove in two more runs, tying the game at 4-4. A two-out single then tacked on a pair and made it 6-4 heading to the seventh. IC cut the deficit to a run in the top of the seventh on a Kasting sacrifice fly to score
Joe Paparelli and make it 6-5, but that would be as close as the Blueboys would get.
Mike Dato hit a solo home run in the bottom of the seventh to make it 7-5. In the bottom of the eighth, Monmouth scored eight runs while collecting just a single hit. The Blueboys committed three errors in the inning and walked five batters while hitting another. Illinois College actually outhit Monmouth in the contest, 11-10, but had a total of five errors that gifted the Scots 10 unearned runs.
Game Two: Monmouth 10, Illinois College 6
Illinois College again took an early lead in game two, but it wouldn't hold up against a torrid Monmouth offense.
Dillon Hallemann took the loss on the hill, but the Blueboys didn't do their pitching any favors for the second game in a row, committing five errors.
Kasting drove in two runs in the top of the first, scoring Paparelli and
Austin Gusewelle. With the score 2-1 in favor of Illinois College in the top of the third, a Monmouth error allowed Paparelli to score again, making it 3-1. The Scots responded with three consecutive hits to start the bottom of the third and later tied it at 3-3 heading into the fourth.
Monmouth took the lead for good in the bottom of the fourth as the Blueboys committed three errors, helping the Scots plate four runs. Another run in the sixth made it 8-3 before Illinois College got two runs closer in the seventh.
Brendan Stanfield drove in a run by getting hit with a pitch.
Bailey Reed then scored on a wild pitch to cut it to 8-5.
Grant Myers helped seal it for the Scots with a run-scoring double in the bottom of the eighth to make it 10-5. Down to their last at-bat, the Blueboys got a single run back on a
Houston Kruse RBI, but Jake Starkey closed it out for Monmouth.
