JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team used lockdown pitching to defeat Robert Morris University-Springfield, 9-0, on Thursday afternoon at Joe Brooks Field. In IC's last non-conference game of the year, the Blueboys used a total of eight pitchers and held the Eagles to just two hits. IC improves to 14-14 on the season.
Quinn Miller got the start for Illinois College and worked 2.0 innings. From there, seven relievers each threw 1.0 inning apiece, with
Levi Parkevich (1-1) getting the win for his 1-2-3 inning of work in the third inning. RMU-Springfield managed only a two-out double in the first inning and a lead-off single in the second inning that later resulted in a 5-4-3 double play. From that point on, the Eagles went down in order in five straight innings and only reached in the eighth and ninth innings as a result of base on balls.
Illinois College scored twice in the second inning when
Cade Hennemann singled to center field and the ball was then misplayed, allowing
Bailey Reed and
Dillon Hallemann to come around. The next inning,
Colin Dearing hit a sacrifice fly to left to score
Joe Paparelli for a 3-0 lead.
Scott Kasting added on a RBI single in the fifth to increase it to 4-0.
The score stayed there until the Blueboys put five on the board in the eighth inning.
Eli Fox,
Mason Durdel and Kasting all had RBIs in the inning.
Following Miller and Parkevich,
Grayson Madey,
D.J. Ramos,
Austin Newton,
Ben Kettelkamp,
Andy Cruthis and
Bryson Swift all worked scoreless innings of relief.
Illinois College will close the regular season with eight straight Midwest Conference South Division games. First up is a four-game series at Grinnell College on Saturday and Sunday. Saturday's doubleheader is slated for a 12 p.m. start.
