The Monmouth College baseball team rallied from an early deficit to beat Blackburn College 10-4 at home on Thursday. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida).drove in his 114th career run to break the Monmouth career RBI record as the Fighting Scots moved to 7-13 on the season with their third straight win.
“It was a bit of a slow start for us today but we had good pitching and eventually some timely hits,” said head coach Alan Betourne. “I’m really happy for Raul and this record. He has put a lot of work in and you can’t set a record like this if your teammates aren’t on base for you and he thanked them in the post-game huddle.”
After two scoreless innings, Blackburn used a leadoff double, sac bunt and single to take a 1-0 lead in the third against Monmouth starting pitcher Caleb Ochs (Royal, Illinois), They added two runs off reliever Heath Hornke (Normal, Illinois) in the fourth inning to lead 3-0.
Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois) led off the fourth with a single and was out at second on a fielders’ choice by Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico). With Dye at second, Guillermo singled to right to get the Scots on the board and break the career RBI record. Guillermo moved to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois).
Hunter Wheat (Athens, Illinois) singled with one out in the fifth and Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) walked. Blackburn changed pitchers and Reed tied the game with a single to right before advancing on a wild pitch. Dye put the Scots on top 5-3 with a double to left before he gave way to pinch-runner Drew Brown (Alexis, Illinois).
As Tyler Ithal (Mokena, Illinois) cruised on the mound, Monmouth added on in the seventh Lummus reached on an error with one out and Reed singled for his third hit of the game. Zach Almaguer (Monmouth, Illinois) singled home a run and with two outs, Matkovic made it 8-3 with a single to center. After a pitching change, Matkovic stole second, went to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch.
“Tyler was great today, his first win and Caleb with his first strikeout, those guys gave us what we needed,” said Betourne.
The Beavers scored an unearned run off Weslee Frame (Fairview, Illinois) in the eighth. Lummus homered with two outs in the bottom of the inning to get that run back and give the Scots a 10-4 lead. Lummus went to the mound in the ninth and walked one while closing out the game.
Ithal (1-0) picked up the win with 3 2/3 shutout innings and he stuck out one and walked two with just one hit allowed.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Ochs struck out a career-high two and matched his season and career best with three innings of work … He also picked up his first career strikeouts … Ithal threw a career-high 3 2./3 innings for his first career win /// Ryan Stubler (2005-08) had the RBI record for 17 years with 113 … Lummus also homered on Saturday and now has a career-high two homers on the seasonGuillermo moved into a tie for 13th on the career hits list with M Club Hall of Famer Beau Hellman (2000-03).. … Matkovic moved his hit steak to five games while Guillermo’s is now at four games … The Scots took two of three against Blackburn last season and are 6-2 against the Beavers under Coach Betourne … Monmouyh leads the all-time series 11-2 and the teams first met in 1896 … The Scots play a weekend conference series at Grinnell with a Saturday DH at Noon … The next home game is against Knox on Saturday, April 12.
***Courtesy of Nathan Baliva, Monmouth College***
