The Monmouth College baseball team walked-off Knox 12-2 on the mercy rule Tuesday with a two-run home run in the bottom of the seventh. The Fighting Scots (9-14, 4-7) swept the season series against the Prairie Fire and have won two games in a row overall.
Knox hit a solo homer in the first inning against Tim McNally (Paw Paw, Illinois) and pushed the lead to 2-0 with a run in the second. Monmouth got the bats going in the bottom of the second. With Logan Komater (Ottawa, Illinois) and Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois) on base, Christian Centeno (Miami, Florida) tripled to right, tying the game. Tyler Houck (Park Ridge, Illinois) singled to score Centeno for a 3-2 Scots lead.
Raul Guillermo III (Miami, Florida) led off the third with a single and Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) singled. Nate Melvin (Ottawa, Illinois) tripled for a 5-2 Monmouth lead and a RBI ground out from Komater added a run.
The runs kept coming in the fourth. Todd Fowler (Chatham, Illinois) singled and moved to second on an error. Lummus made it 7-2 with a single and he came around to score on an error. Jack Kuethe (Pekin, Illinois) singled home Komater for a 9-2 lead after four innings.
The Scots tallied another in the fifth. Houck walked, Fowler singled and Guillermo’s double made it 10-1. McNally gave way to Toby Turnquist (Monmouth, Illinois) on the mound in the sixth inning. Turnquist kept the Prairie Fire off the board in the next two innings.
Houck started the seventh with a single. Fowler ended the game with a two-run homer past the scoreboard in right field for a 12-2 walk-off win.
McNally (2-2) allowed two runs on four hits over five innings in the win. He walked seven and struck out three. Turnqust threw two hitless and shutout innings with one walk and three strikeouts.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Both of McNally’s wins this season are against Knox. Komater leads the Scots with 12 stolen bases. The Scots have scored 12 runs in two straight games. Monmouth swept the season series by a total score of 25-7. Monmouth leads the all-time series 204-155-2 and the Scots are 13-3 against the Prairie Fire since the start of the 2019 season. Monmouth heads to Beloit for a Saturday doubleheader at Noon. The next home game is at Noon Sunday against Beloit.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
