JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team rallied twice on Sunday, coming back from 3-0 and 5-3 deficits to defeat Elmhurst College, 11-5, in action at Joe Brooks Baseball Field. With the win, the Blueboys improve to 5-6 on the year.
Elmhurst struck first against Illinois College starting pitcher
Brian Kindt in the top of the second, loading the bases with one out and putting a run on the board with a sacrifice fly to right field before plating two more with a two-out single. The Blueboys were able to cut into the lead with the first batter in the bottom of the third when
Colin Dearing cleared the fence for a solo shot over the wall in right, making it 3-1.
Kindt settled in and retired the Bluejays in order in the third, fourth and fifth innings. Illinois College came back to tie the score in the bottom of the fourth.
Cade Hennemann ignited a two-out rally by earning a base on balls and moving to second on a wild pitch.
Dillon Hallemann then doubled him home to make it 3-2 and Dearing followed with a single through the middle to level the game at 3-3.
In the top of the sixth, Kindt mowed down the first two hitters and was nearly on his way to another 1-2-3 inning when a walk was issued to Tyler Kledzik. The next hitter, Chad Tucker, deposited a ball over the wall in left to give Elmhurst a 5-3 advantage.
That lead would last only until the bottom of the sixth. It took four Elmhurst pitchers to retire the side as Illinois College collected five hits, walked four times and advanced on an error during a pick-off attempt at first. Dearing drove in Hennemann for the first run of the inning to make it 5-4.
Tim Sommerfeld then tapped a ball in play for an infield single to knot it at 5-5. The go-ahead RBI came off the bat of
Joe Paparelli and
Scott Kasting then drove in two with a triple to the gap in left-center, making it 8-5.
Brendan Stanfield later drove in a run with a squeeze bunt and another run scored when Dearing struck out but the ball squirted away from the catcher and he raced to first while
Bailey Reed came home from third.
Kole Lowry kept the Elmhurst offense in check in both the seventh and eighth innings, and the Blueboys tacked on one more insurance run in the bottom of the eighth when Reed walked and Stanfield hit a ground-rule double. With runners on second and third, a wild pitch brought Reed home for an 11-5 lead.
Christian Stawar got through the ninth with little trouble to bring the game to a close.
Kindt went 6.0 innings and got the win to move to 1-0 on the year. Dearing was 3-for-4 with three RBIs, while Paparelli and Hallemann also had a pair of hits on the afternoon.
Illinois College has its first true road game of the season on Wednesday afternoon, traveling to Decatur, Ill. to face Millikin University in a 2 p.m. contest.
