MOUNT VERNON, Iowa – After dropping a pair in a double-header with Cornell yesterday, the Prairie Fire baseball team bounced back with a game one win in today’s conference twinbill with the Rams.
Knox found themselves trailing 5-1 after four innings. Nick Piller’s RBI double in the top half of the 5th sparked a 5-run 5th inning for the Prairie Fire to take the 6-5 lead. Cornell responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the 8th to put the Rams back on top heading to the 9th inning.
It was Dalton James’ RBI double that tied the game at 7 before a Kobe Shutter RBI double and a Tristan Hannah RBI single put Knox back on top 9-7.
Senior Zach Chainuck closed the door on the Rams with a 1-2-3 9th inning to secure his first win of the season. At the plate, James led the way for the Prairie Fire going 4-5 with 2 RBI’s and a run scored in the win.
Looking to pick up their ninth win of the season in game two, Knox got out to an early 1-0 lead on a James RBI single that scored Paul Sanders. It was a back and forth contest for most of the afternoon.
Cornell got out to a 7-1 lead before Knox stormed back with 3 runs of their own in the 5th to cut the deficit to three. The scoring started with a Theo Mills RBI walk. Singles by Kobe Shutter and Spencer Bauer accounted for the other two RBI’s in the inning.
Knox added a run in both the 6th and 7th inning to cut the Rams lead to one heading into the bottom half of the 7th. Cornell then scored five runs on their way to a 15-7 game two victory.
In game two, Bauer paced the Prairie Fire with two RBI’s on two hits. Shutter also had two hits and an RBI of his own. James finished the day going 6-for-9 with three RBI’s.
With the split, the Prairie Fire fell to 8-13 on the season and 2-6 in conference play. They will look to improve on their record when they host North Central College on Saturday for an afternoon double-header. First pitch is scheduled for 1:00 p.m. at Blodgett Field.
