DAVENPORT, Flor. - The Illinois College baseball team concluded the 2024 Russ Matt Central Florida Invitational by shutting out the Rams of North Central University of Minnesota 8-0 Friday night. For the entire week in Florida, the Blueboys recorded a 4-2 record while improving to 8-2 overall on the season.
In the Sunshine State finale, the Blueboys were the home team as
Jack McGuire took the mound for his third start of the season. After a lead off walk, McGuire stranded that runner on third as he struck out Julian Encinas to end the inning. In the bottom half,
Ryne Mapes and
Adam Passmore both reached base on back-to-back walks and later advanced 90 feet on a wild pitch. With runners in scoring position,
Louie Bartletti got IC on the board with a sacrifice fly to right that scored Mapes for the 1-0 advantage.
In the second, McGuire had another quick inning as threw just 14 pitches. The Blueboys opened the game with a five-run inning that started on an error by Jordan Trevino at third that allowed
Jon Tate to reached base. With runners in scoring position and two outs, Mapes ripped a double to the right center field gap that scored Tate and Schweigert that increased the lead to 3-0. Passmore immediately followed up with an rbi single to left center that scored Mapes that made the score 4-0. After Passmore stole second, Bartletti legged out a double to right center that scored Passmore. IC scored the fifth run of the inning on a rbi single to right center off the bat of
Nolan Decker that scored Bartletti for the 6-0 lead.
McGuire was dealing on the mound as he delivered three additional innings of shutout baseball that included striking out the side in the bottom of the fifth. In the bottom of the fifth, Decker singled to center then stole second and advanced to third on a wild pitch. With one out,
Ryan Huskey ripped a line drive to center when NCU's Caleb Alfaro attempted to make a diving catch when the ball went all the way to the fence that allowed Decker and Huskey to both score on the play that made the score 8-0.
In the final four innings, IC used four different relief pitchers in
Dylan Eaton,
Chris Campau,
Jake Holder, and
Tory Wickman as all four pitchers recorded a zero on the scoreboard. Holder entered the game in the eighth and struck out the size. Wickman recorded two groundouts and a strikeout to end the game.
For the game, IC was led in hits by Decker and Schweigert with two each while Mapes, Bartletti, and Huskey led the team with two runs batted in. On the mound, McGuire delivered five scoreless innings on the mound that include eight strikeouts. All four IC relievers had one inning of work as Holder fanned three batters.
The Blueboys will return to Joe Brooks Field on Wednesday, March 13 hosting Westminster College (MO) for a double-header starting at 12:00 PM (noon).
