The Monmouth College baseball team played and split a unique Midwest Conference doubleheader on Sunday with games in two different sites, at Lawrence and at Ripon. The Fighting Scots (13-19, 8-12) lost at Lawrence 8-3 before rallying to win at Ripon 14-7.
Lawrence scored five runs early against Monmouth starter Cam Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois) with a 2-run homer in the first and a 3-run third. The Scots got on the board in the fourth with the bases loaded. Nate Melvin (Ottawa, Illinois) drove home Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) with a fielder’s choice but two were left on base.
The game stayed 5-1 as Monmouth left the bases loaded in the fifth. In the sixth, Jack Kuethe (Pekin, Illinois) led off with a double and Christian Centeno (Miami, Florida) singled. Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois) delivered a 2-run single to cut the Vikings lead to 5-3. Tyler Houck (Park Ridge, Illinois) reached on an error to put runners on the corners with two outs. Houck stole second but the Scots again left two in scoring position.
Lawrence scored three in the seventh and neither team scored the rest of the way as the Vikings won 8-3. Anderson (1-4) took the loss after allowing five runs on four hits and seven walks over 2 innings. Riley Jennings (Knoxville, Illinois) threw 1 hitless and shutout innings while striking out three. Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) allowed three runs on five hits and a walk while striking out two over three innings. Luke Kelty (Spring Valley, Illinois) allowed a hit over one shutout inning.
GAME TWO
Monmouth then traveled 40 miles southwest to take on a Ripon team that beat Knox Sunday morning. This game was originally scheduled for the weekend of March 24-26 but was postponed by inclement weather.
Ripon led off the first inning with a solo home run against Tim McNally (Paw Paw, Illinois) and they added another run for a 2-0 lead. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) got the Scots on the board in the third with a RBI groundout to score Houck.
Down 5-1 in the fifth, Reed led off with a solo home run, his second of the season. An inning later the Scots took the lead. Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) singled with one out and Lummus followed with a single. After a pitching change, Toby Turnquist (Monmouth, Illinois) singled home two runs to cut the Ripon lead to 5-4. With two outs, Reed walked and Houck reached on an error as Turnquist scored to tie the game. Logan Komater (Ottawa, Illinois) gave the Scots a 7-5 lead with a 2-run single to left-center as both Houck and Reed scored.
Ripon got one run back off reliever Jakob Brokaw (Andalusia, Illinois) in the bottom of the inning. Monmouth kept the bats going in the seventh. Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) singled and scored on a double by Kuethe for an 8-6 lead. Lummus made it 9-6 with a single.
Leading 9-7, the Scots broke the game open in the ninth. Matkovic led off with a double and scored on a single by Kuethe. Scott reached on an error and Lummus singled home Kuethe for an 11-7 lead. Centeno singled home a run and Lummus scored on a sacrifice fly by Reed. Houck’s single scored Melvin for a 14-7 lead and Nick Corman (Monmouth, Illinois) closed out the Red Hawks in the bottom of the ninth.
McNally allowed four earned runs on seven hits over four innings in a no-decision. Brokaw (1-2) picked up the win with one run allowed on three hits over two innings. Carson Mohler (Temple Terrace, Florida) threw a hitless and shutout inning. Cade Sharp (Aledo, Illinois) allowed one run on three hits over one inning while striking out one. Corman earned the save with two strikeouts and one hit allowed in one shutout inning.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Komater had two hits in the game against Lawrence. Komater, Kuethe, Centeno and Reed had hits in both games. Houck, Komater, Matkovic, and Lummus had three hits against Ripon. Houck, Komater, Kuethe, Lummus, Reed and Turnquist drove in two runs against Ripon. Komater finished with a five-hit day. Brokaw had a win and a save on the weekend trip. The Scots lost both games at Ripon in March in the final at-bat, including one extra-inning game. Monmouth went a combined 3-3 on the season against Lawrence and Ripon. Monmouth hosts Cornell at 3 p.m. Tuesday before a split weekend series against Illinois College to finish conference play.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
