WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Illinois College baseball team picked up its first win of 2020 in exciting fashion, coming back from a 3-0 deficit to Saint Vincent College and scoring 16 runs in a span of four innings to earn a 16-3 victory in seven innings over the Bearcats.
Saint Vincent got on the board with a pair of runs in the top of the second, one of them an unearned run following an Illinois College error. The Wolverines then manufactured a run in the third with a lead-off walk, a steal, a grounder that advanced the runner to third and finally an RBI single, extending the lead to 3-0.
Errors by Saint Vincent contributed to a six-run response from Illinois College in the bottom of the third.
Scott Kasting was the first recipient of a Wolverine error and that was followed by a single from
Bailey Reed.
Colin Dearing drove them both home on a double and the next batter,
Dillon Hallemann, brought another run in as Saint Vincent committed its second error of the frame. Later, with the score 3-3 and two men on,
Tyler Blum homered to give IC a 6-3 advantage.
Eli Fox grew the Blueboy lead to 8-3 with a RBI double in the bottom of the fourth that scored Hallemann and Dearing. In the fifth,
Austin Newton (1-0) was lifted with one away in the inning and relief pitcher
Zach Neal immediately induced a double play ball that ended inning. Two pitchers for the Wolverines then staggered through the bottom of the fifth, giving up six runs on only three hits as a series of walks and wild pitches contributed to another huge turn at the dish for the Blueboys. Dearing delivered the big blow with a bases-clearing double down the line in right field to make the score 14-3.
In the bottom of the sixth, IC tacked on another pair with Blum scoring from third on a Saint Vincent error and Hallemann doubling to left-center, scoring Kasting for a 16-3 lead. Hallemann then closed the game out with a scoreless inning of mop-up duty.
Dearing and Blum led the way offensively. Each player collected three hits and scored three runs. Dearing drove in five while Blum had three RBIs.
Illinois College plays another single, nine-inning contest tomorrow at 9:30 a.m. (EST) against Saint Joseph's College (ME) in Winter Haven.
