KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Illinois College baseball team came in knowing that it would have two very tough opponents to match up against on the first day of games to start the 2019 season. The Blueboys showed flashes of life on Sunday and turned in a gritty effort to stay close with a St. John Fisher College team that is receiving votes nationally, but IC ultimately fell to 0-2 on the season with a 10-1 defeat to Ohio Northern University and a 4-2 loss to St. John Fisher.
Illinois College returns to action tomorrow with a doubleheader against Muhlenberg College starting at 3:15 p.m. (EST).
Game One: Ohio Northern 10, Illinois College 1
The first game of the year started well enough for Illinois College. The Blueboys stranded two Ohio Northern baserunners in the first inning and starting pitcher
Austin Newton worked a 1-2-3 second inning. In the top of the third,
Cade Hennemann singled through the left side and advanced to third base on a passed ball and wild pitch before being brought home on a
Joe Paparelli sacrifice fly to put the Blueboys ahead.
That was to turn out to be the high point of the day for IC. The Polar Bears slapped three straight singles to start off the bottom of the third, tying the game at 1-1. An error helped two more runs to score as ONU took a 3-1 lead. The fourth inning yielded four more hits and an error, allowing Ohio Northern to run its lead up to 7-1.
Illinois College was able to get runners on throughout the game, but didn't find any luck in driving any of them home. Meanwhile, Ohio Northern tacked on another run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to make it 10-1.
Austin Newton took the loss on the hill, allowing seven runs (four earned) in four innings of action.
Grayson Madey worked two innings of effective relief late in the contest. IC was held to five hits on the game, with Paparelli,
Eli Fox,
Colin Dearing, Hennemann and
Dakota Siebert providing them.
Game Two: St. John Fisher 4, Illinois College 2
Illinois College was much sharper in the second game of the day, but a two-run first inning from St. John Fisher helped the Cardinals get the win.
Making his IC debut,
Logan Love gave up three singles in the first inning and some aggressive baserunning from St. John Fisher made it 2-0 early on. The Blueboys would cut into the lead in the top of the third when
Mason Durdel knocked a one-out single to left and Paparelli doubled him home with two down in the inning.
That one-run deficit last only until the bottom of the third. The Cardinals answered back with a two-out hit of their own, knocking in a runner from third to make it 3-1.
In the top of the sixth,
Scott Kasting rudely introduced relief pitcher Tim Geissel to the contest with a lead-off home run off the new pitcher for the Cardinals. That turned out to be one of only three hits Geissel would allow down the stretch. Working the final four innings, Geissel struck out four and walked only one to limit IC's chances. St. John Fisher helped its pitcher out with an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth against
Ben Kettelkamp, who otherwise was very effective with six strikeouts in three innings of work out of the Blueboy bullpen.
Love took the loss for Illinois College in the game, allowing three runs over four innings while striking out three.
Dillon Hallemann struck out two hitters in a perfect inning of relief before making way for Kettelkamp. Durdel collected two of IC's six hits in the contest.
