JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois College baseball team roared out of the gates with three runs in the bottom of the first inning, but the offense sputtered out after that. MacMurray College rallied to force extra innings and then won it in the 10th inning, 4-3, over the Blueboys. IC drops to 0-1 on the season while MacMurray moves to 1-3.
Following a 1-2-3 first inning from
Austin Newton, the Blueboys came to the plate and immediately jumped all over MacMurray starting pitcher Anthony Clark.
Joe Paparelli singled to lead off the frame for IC and
Scott Kasting brought him home with a first-pitch home run over the wall in center field. Two batters later,
Bailey Reed connected on Illinois College's second homer of the inning with a solo shot to right-center, making it 3-0.
Between Newton (3.0 IP) and
Logan Love, the Blueboys didn't allow a hit from the Highlanders until the top of the sixth. A one-out walk and a successful hit-and-run put runners on the corners. A single through the left side from Wyatt Logsdon cut the deficit to 3-1.
Quinn Miller took over the top of the seventh and worked an efficient inning, however he was knocked around for a pair of unearned runs in the eighth. A single by Connor Allen, followed by a bunt single and an error had runners on the corners with no outs. MacMurray scored its first run of the frame on a sacrifice fly and later had a two-out single up the middle to knot the score at 3-3.
Jake Schippert had a 1-2-3 inning in the ninth. In the 10th, he sat down the first two MacMurray hitters in order before allowing back-to-back doubles, bringing Brendan Schanz home on an RBI hit from Logsdon. The Blueboys, held to three hits the ensuing nine innings after collecting three hits in the first inning, went down in order to end it.
Schippert took the loss on the hill for Illinois College. The win went to Charlie Brauch (1-0) and the save to Tanner Coleman. Paparelli had the only multi-hit game for the Blueboys, going 2-for-4.
Illinois College heads to Florida, playing eight games in a span of six days beginning one week from today. First up, the Blueboys will square off with Aurora University (1:45 p.m. EST) and Clark University (5:45 p.m. EST) on March 1 in Auburndale.
