JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - The Illinois College baseball team continued its strong Midwest Conference play on Wednesday afternoon, exploding offensively defeat Monmouth 17-9 at Joe Brooks Field and secure another conference series victory.
The Blueboys improve to 17-13 overall and 8-4 in Midwest Conference play, while Monmouth falls to 10-17 (6-6).
Monmouth jumped out to an early advantage, scoring two runs in the first and adding three more in the second, highlighted by a three-run home run to take a 5-1 lead.
Illinois College chipped away in the second, taking advantage of a pair of errors to plate two unearned runs before rallying in the third. The Blueboys scored three times in the inning, tying the game at 6-6 behind RBI singles from Josh Morales and Nathan Walker.
After Monmouth briefly regained the lead in the fourth, Illinois College responded in a big way. Logan Fleener launched a two-run home run to give the Blueboys the lead, and Adam Turner and Josh Morales followed with back-to-back-to-back home runs to stretch the advantage to 10-7.
The Fighting Scots closed the gap to 10-9 in the sixth, but Illinois College answered immediately as Maddox Klawitter led off the bottom half with a solo home run.
The game broke open in the seventh inning as the Blueboys erupted for six runs. Nicholas Muskopf delivered an RBI single before Morales drove in two with a double. Klawitter added a sacrifice fly, and Walker capped the inning with a two-run home run to extend the lead to 17-9.
Illinois College finished with 20 hits on the day, led by Walker's four-hit performance with three RBIs. Morales drove in a team-high four runs, while Muskopf and Fleener each recorded three hits. Klawitter added two hits and three RBIs.
On the mound, Chase Schrader earned the win in relief, tossing 5.0 innings and allowing three runs while striking out four. Connor Akstulewicz closed out the game with two scoreless innings.
Up Next
The Blueboys will travel to Ripon for another Midwest Conference series this weekend with first pitch scheduled for 12:00pm on Saturday.Â
