WINTER HAVEN, Fla. – The Illinois College baseball team almost completed a comeback from a five-run deficit, but Saint Joseph's (ME) was able to close the game out after allowing the Blueboys within a single run in the top of the ninth, winning 9-8.
Batting in the top of the first, Illinois College got on the board with a
Joe Paparelli walk and a
Scott Kasting double, setting the stage for a RBI groundout from
Bailey Reed for a 1-0 lead. The Monks came back in the bottom of the first, taking a 2-1 lead on three hits in the frame. Five more hits in the bottom of the second for Saint Joseph's off of IC starting pitcher
Nolan Struhs (0-2) gave the Monks a 4-1 edge early on.
The lead for Saint Joseph's was extended to 5-1 in the bottom of the fourth on an unearned run following a two-out error from the Blueboys. Illinois College was soon able to cut that deficit in half when Paparelli reached on an error in the fifth inning and Kasting bombed a two-run homer right after to make it a 5-3 ballgame.
Two runs in bottom of the fifth for the Monks were answered by a RBI double from
Cade Hennemann in the top of the sixth, leaving the score at 7-4. Saint Joseph's added runs on a solo home run in the bottom of the sixth and a RBI triple in the seventh to take a 9-4 edge on the Blueboys.
Dillon Hallemann and
Mason Durdel both reached base in the top of the eighth and both would score that inning off of wild pitches to trim the Saint Joseph's lead to 9-6. Following a 1-2-3 inning from
Jake Schippert, Illinois College came up to the plate in the ninth and promptly cut the deficit to one on a one-out homer from
Colin Dearing. Back-to-back fly outs to center ended the game, however, giving the Monks the victory.
Kasting, Reed and Durdel all had two hits in the game for Illinois College.
The IC Spring Break trip concludes tomorrow with a pair of contests. First up is a 9 a.m. (EST) game with Emerson College, followed by a 12:30 p.m. (EST) meeting with Illinois Wesleyan University.
