JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team recovered from a pair of blowout losses to Knox College on Wednesday to earn a sweep of a doubleheader with the Prairie Fire on Saturday at Joe Brooks Field. Following 3-1 and 10-8 victories over Knox, the Blueboys are now 13-14 (3-5 Midwest Conference South) on the season.
Looking to make up some canceled games, IC is potentially adding on a midweek home game at Joe Brooks Field, but until that is finalized the next action for the Blueboys is next weekend, April 27-28, with a four-game set at Grinnell College.
Game One: Illinois College 3, Knox 1
In a brief opening game that went less than two hours, Illinois College only managed five hits but made them count with a three-run sixth inning.
Logan Love (2-3) went 7.0 innings and gave up just the one run before making way for
Christian Stawar. The freshman earned a six-out save, his fourth of the season, to preserve the win.
After three mostly routine innings to start the game off, Knox took the lead in the top of the fourth with a Dalton James double to left-center. Things might have been worse for IC if not for an inning-ending double play that saw runners tagged out both at home and at second.
Trailing 1-0,
Brendan Stanfield singled home
Scott Kasting and
Colin Dearing with the tying and go-ahead runs in the bottom of the sixth.
Cade Hennemann later reached on an error which allowed
Eli Fox to score, extending the lead to 3-1.
The Prairie Fire fought to get back in it, but Love stranded two Knox runners in the seventh before Stawar entered the game. The freshman left one aboard in the eighth and two aboard in the ninth to close it out.
Game Two: Illinois College 10, Knox 8
In game two of the day, the Blueboys trailed, 7-1, going to the bottom of the seventh before exploding for four runs in that inning and another five in the bottom of the eighth to stun the Prairie Fire.
Brian Kindt (2-2) earned the win and Stawar picked up his second save of the day and fifth of the season.
Knox put one run on the board in the first inning and another three in the fourth before
Brendan Stanfield hit a solo shot in the bottom of the fourth to make it 4-1. The Prairie Fire then tacked on one run in the fifth and two more in the sixth to grow the lead to 7-1 prior to the IC comeback.
With starter Logan Thake tiring, Knox was forced to go to its bullpen and the Blueboys were ready for them.
Tim Sommerfeld,
Joe Paparelli, Kasting and Fox all had RBIs in the seventh to make it 7-5. After Kindt threw a 1-2-3 eighth inning,
Grant Argyilan led off for Illinois College with a double and was driven in by Sommerfeld. Paparelli then doubled home Sommerfeld to knot the score at 7-7, though he was tagged out trying to get to third. Dearing made sure that wouldn't come back to bite the Blueboys as he hit a go-ahead solo home run to give IC its first lead of the game. Stanfield later added two more RBIs with a double, bringing Fox and Kasting home for a 10-7 edge.
Knox made it interesting with a two-out RBi in the top of the ninth, but with the tying run on board and the go-ahead run at the plate,
Brennan Bergstralh made a leaping snag of a line drive at third to preserve the victory.
Illinois College totaled 16 hits in the contest. Paparelli and Stanfield had three apiece to lead the IC offense.
