The Monmouth College baseball team had a 3-0 lead after four innings and a 4-2 lead after six but ultimately lost to Knox College 5-4 on Thursday night. The Scots will host Illinois College on Saturday in their final home games of the 2022 season.
Neither team scored in the first two innings with Nathan Willig (Oswego, Illinois) on the mound for the Scots. He picked up his fourth strikeout of the game in the top of the third and Monmouth broke the tie in the bottom of the inning. Logan Komater (Ottawa, Illinois) led off with a double and an infield single by Nate Melvin (Ottawa, Illinois) put runners on the corners. Tyler Houck’s RBI fielder’s choice scored Komater for a 1-0 lead and Justin Bost (Reynolds, Illinois) doubled for a 2-0 lead. Bost moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a groundout by Jake Kuethe (Pekin, Illinois) as the Scots took a 3-0 lead.
Knox got on the board in the fifth with a leadoff single, double and RBI groundout. A second double in the frame cut the Monmouth lead to 3-2 before Willig got out of the inning. They put the tying run on third in the sixth but Willig’s ninth strikeout of the day ended the frame.
Monmouth added on in the sixth inning. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) doubled with one out and a single by Jackson Van Iwaarden (Ballwin, Missouri) put runners on the corners. Christian Centeno (Miami, Florida) singled to right as Guillermo scored for a 4-2 Scots lead.
Knox took a 5-4 lead in the seventh as the Scots committed two errors and hit a batter. All three runs in the inning were unearned against reliever Cade Sharp (Aledo, Illinois). Willig struck out a season-high nine batters over six innings while allowing two runs on two hits and a walk.
Melvin doubled with one out in the ninth but Knox got the last two outs to end the game and win 5-4. The Scots will host Illinois College on Saturday with a noon double header. Saturday is senior day with the seniors honored before the first game.
***Report Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
