The Monmouth College baseball team swept Cornell at home on Tuesday afternoon with 8-2 and 10-4 wins. The two Monmouth starting pitchers, TIm McNally (Paw Paw, Illinois) and Nathan Willig (Oswego, Illinois) combined to allow three runs over 13 innings in the first conference sweep of the season.
The Scots got on the board in the bottom of the second inning in game one. Jack Kuethe (Pekin, Illinois) singled after Justin Bost (Reynolds, Illinois) reached on an error. With two down, Christian Centeno (Miami, Florida) singled home Bost for a 1-0 lead before Kuethe scored on a passed ball. Anthony Ruggles (Aledo, Illinois) put the Scots on top 3-0 with a single to bring in Centeno.
McNally kept the Rams off the board and the Scots added on in the third. Nate Melvin (Ottawa, Illinois) singled and moved up on a sacrifice bunt. Bost singled to put runners on the corners and Melvin scored on an error with two outs. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) doubled home Bost for a 5-0 lead before Cornell got out of the inning.
McNally didn’t give up a run until the seventh when he left the game with two on base an one out. Nicholas Corman (Monmouth, Illinois) came on in relief and got a second out before a run scored on a groundout. A second run game home on an error but the Scots got out of the inning with an out at the plate and a 5-2 lead.
The Scots put the game away in the eighth. Bost walked, Guillermo singled, and Jackson Van Iwaarden (Ballwin, Missouri) was hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Centeno singled to make it 6-2 and two runs scored on an error for an 8-2 lead.
McNally (1-2) picked up the win as he allowed one earned run on four hits over 6 1/3 innings. He struck out five and walked three. Corman and Riley Jennings (Knoxville, Illinois) combined for 2 shutout innings of relief with one hit allowed and one strikeout.
The Scots took an early lead in game two as well. Melvin singled with one out in the third and moved to second on a single by Tyler Houck (Park Ridge, Illinois). Boat reached on an error as Melvin came around to score the first run of the game. Kuethe’s sacrifice fly to left scored Houck for a 2-0 lead.
Willig mowed down Cornell hitters and the Scots added on in the fourth inning. After a pair of walks, Melvin doubled to score Ruggles and Logan Komater (Ottawa, Illinois) for a 4-0 Scots lead.
The Rams cut the lead to 4-2 in the fifth but the Scots had an answer. Bost walked, Kuethe was hit by a pitch and Guillermo made it 5-2 with a double. Van Iwaarden singled home two more for a 7-2 lead before Cornell escaped the inning.
Guillermo provided the final three runs as well. He singled home Houck in the seventh, then hit a 2-run homer in the eighth for a 10-2 Monmouth lead. He finished the day with three hits and five RBI between the two games. The Rams plated two runs in the ninth against Jakob Brokaw (Andalusia, Illinois) before the right-hander finished the game with a swinging strikeout.
Willig (2-1) picked up the win as he allowed two runs on five hits over six innings the lefty walked three and struck out one. Brokaw earned his first collegiate save with three innings in which he allowed two runs on four hits and struck out two.
Monmouth will play at Knox on Thursday with a 4:30 p.m. first pitch. The Scots host Lawrence this weekend with a Noon double header on Saturday and a single game at Noon on Sunday.
***Report Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
