KISSIMMEE, Fla. – The Illinois College baseball team split a pair of contests with Muhlenberg College on Monday afternoon, defeating the Mules by a score of 5-1 in the opener before falling, 4-3, to close out the day. The victory in the first game gave
Jacob Waddle his first career head coaching victory.
Following a day off tomorrow, the Blueboys (1-3) return to action on Wednesday morning with a 9:15 a.m. (EST) contest with Trine University.
Game 1: Illinois College 5, Muhlenberg 1
A four-run seventh inning from the Blueboys broke open a 1-1 tie and gave Illinois College its first win of the season.
Bailey Reed was 3-for-4 with the game-tying home run in the fourth inning and a RBI in the seventh as part of IC's big inning.
Muhlenberg struck first, taking a 1-0 lead in the second inning before Reed homered to left in the fourth to knot the score at 1-1.
Dentler Loschen kept the Mules in check for five innings before giving way to
Christian Stawar. Stawar pitched a perfect sixth inning to get the Blueboys back to the dish in the seventh.
Leading off the seventh,
Cade Hennemann singled and gave way to pinch-runner
Adam Braude.
Tim Sommerfeld was then hit by a pitch to put a runner into scoring position and
Eli Fox singled in Sommerfeld two batters later for a 2-1 lead. With two outs in the inning, Reed doubled down the line to extend the IC lead to 3-1 and
Colin Dearing then knocked in a pair off of Muhlenberg's new relief pitcher to make it 5-1.
In the bottom of the seventh, the Mules were able to bring the tying run to the plate before
Dillon Hallemann slammed the door shut to preserve the victory.
Game 2: Muhlenberg 4, Illinois College 3
Muhlenberg and Illinois College were scoreless for the first four innings before each team exploded in the fifth inning. Unfortunately, the Blueboys ended the inning down a run and couldn't make up the difference despite scoring chances in both the sixth and seventh innings.
Brian Kindt was solid for the Blueboys in his debut, going four innings and giving up only a pair of hits. He gave way to the bullpen in the fifth and Muhlenberg pounced, scoring four runs on five walks and two hits. Illinois College was able to answer back with RBIs from
Joe Paparelli,
Eli Fox and
Scott Kasting in the bottom half of the inning, but IC left the bases loaded.
Kole Lowry gave up a pair of hits but faced the minimum over the last two innings. Offensively, Illinois College left the tying and go-ahead runs on base in the sixth and seventh and were unable to complete the comeback.
