The Monmouth College baseball team finally got to play a game against rival Knox on Thursday and came away with a 6-3 road win. The game was postponed three different times in Monmouth as part of a double header, starting back on March 29, and finally played to completion in Galesburg.
Knox took a 1-0 lead in the second inning against Scots starter Cade Sharp (Aledo, Illinois). The Scots answered immediately against the Prairie Fire. Anthony Ruggles (Aledo, Illinois) led off with a single and moved to second on a single by Logan Komater (Ottawa, Illinois). An error loaded the bases and another error plated Ruggles to tie the game. Justin Bost (Reynolds, Illinois) grounded out as Komater scored and Jack Kuethe (Pekin, Illinois) gave the Scots a 3-1 lead with a RBI groundout.
Knox got one back in the bottom of the third before Sharp settled in and shut down the hosts over the next three innings. The Scots added on in the fifth as Bost singled home Nate Melvin (Ottawa, Illinois) for a 4-2 lead.
Bost doubled with two outs in the seventh and Kuethe hit his third home run of the season for a 6-2 Scots lead. Nick Corman (Monmouth, Illinois) took over on the mound with a runner on first in the seventh and got a double play to end the inning. He blanked the Prairie Fire in the eighth before Knox scored the final run of the game in the bottom of the ninth against Riley Jennings (Knoxville, Illinois).
Komater, Bost and Ruggles all had three hits for the Scots while Jackson Van Iwaarden (Ballwin, Missouri) had two. Kuethe drove in three runs while Melvin scored twice. Sharp (1-1) picked up his first win of the season with two runs allowed on three hits over six innings as he struck out six.
Monmouth and Knox will finish their suspended game in Galesburg on Tuesday with the Prairie Fire leading 3-1 in the sixth. They will also play a full nine-inning game in Monmouth next Thursday at 4:30 p.m. The Scots host Lawrence this weekend with a Noon double header on Saturday and a single game at Noon Sunday.
***Recap courtesy of Monmouth College Athletics***
