AUBURNDALE, Fla. – The Illinois College baseball team earned a split on its final day in Florida. Behind a combined shutout from
Brian Kindt and
Christian Stawar, the Blueboys defeated Emerson College, 3-0. Later in the day, IC was one inning away from a win before Illinois Wesleyan University scored four in the ninth to come back for an 11-8 victory. The Blueboys come back home with a 2-7 overall record.
Illinois College comes home to Joe Brooks Field to host Augustana College on March 12. The doubleheader begins at 12 p.m.
Illinois College 3, Emerson 0
A combined four-hitter from Kindt (1-1) and Stawar (S, 1) gave Illinois College its second win of the season in Friday's early contest. Kindt went 6.0 innings and struck out seven while allowing four hits. Stawar came on in the seventh and pitched the rest of the way, allowing just a single baserunner to earn the nine-out save.
Joe Paparelli manufactured what turned out to be the winning run in the top of the third. With two outs and no one aboard, Paparelli worked a walk and then went to second on a wild pitch.
Scott Kasting hit a ball to shortstop but an error was committed and Paparelli raced home for the 1-0 edge.
That lead held up until the final two innings when Illinois College was able to tack on some insurance runs. Again with two outs and no one on in the eighth, Kasting struck out for what would have been the third out of the inning except the ball skipped away from the catcher and Kasting was able to make it to first. He then went to third base on a single from
Bailey Reed and a wild pitch gave Kasting enough time to scamper in for a 2-0 lead.
In the ninth,
Dillon Hallemann was hit by a pitch to start the inning and went to third on Emerson's second error of the day. A sacrifice fly from
Cade Hennemann was deep enough to score him from 90 feet out, increasing IC's margin to 3-0. In the bottom of the ninth, Stawar slammed the door shut, setting the Lions down in order, including a pair of strikeouts along the way.
Colin Dearing had the best day at the plate for the Blueboys, going 3-for-4.
Illinois Wesleyan 11, Illinois College 8
Looking to knock off Illinois Wesleyan for a second year in a row, Illinois College built two leads in the game but saw the Titans rally back each time, the final time in the top of the ninth. Stawar (0-1) was called into action in the ninth inning, but IWU took the lead while he was on the bump.
Illinois College started strong.
Logan Love shut down Illinois Wesleyan in the top of the first and the Blueboys tallied three runs in the bottom of the inning. Reed and Hallemann had the RBI hits in the inning. Hallemann drove in another run on a fielder's choice grounder to make it 4-0 in favor of IC in the bottom of the third.
The Titans came back with one run in the fourth, two in the fifth and three in the sixth to take a 6-4 lead on the Blueboys. Illinois College answered back with a run in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI double from
Mason Durdel to cut it to 6-5.
A three-run bottom of the seventh for Illinois College put the Blueboys back ahead and looked like it might decide the game. A double from Hallemann scored Reed to knot the score at 6-6.
Kellen Blum drove in the go-ahead run and a double-steal with Blum and Hallemann resulted in another run coming across.
Illinois Wesleyan scored once in the top of the eighth to make it 8-7. Still, the Blueboys retired two batters in the ninth and still held an 8-7 lead before back-to-back RBI singles put IWU on top, 9-8. Before the inning was over, another RBI single would plate two more to make it 11-8. Despite a lead-off double from Dearing in the bottom of the ninth, IC was unable to offer more of a challenge than that.
The 2-5 hitters of Kasting, Reed, Dearing and Hallemann all had two hits in the game for Illinois College.
