DECATUR, Ill. - Millikin Baseball closed out their first weekend on home soil on Sunday, March 8 as they faced Loras College and Knox College in back to back games. The Big Blue would take the first game against Loras 4-3 but would fall 10-7 to Knox in the second game of the evening. The split takes Millikin to 4-5 on the season.
The first game of the day saw the Big Blue take on the Duhawks from Loras College.
Caleb Buehrle would start on the hill for the Big Blue and would allow three runs on nine hits with two strikeouts in 5.1 innings pitched. Loras would start Curtis Lilienthal, who would throw 4.0 innings allowing two runs on three hits with three strikeouts on the day.
The game was scoreless through the first two innings of play, but Loras would tack a run on the board in the top of the third inning on an RBI double by Joe Egan that would score Adam Metivier from second to give the Duhawks a 1-0 lead after three.
Millikin would answer an inning later, seeing
Brent Beals score from second on a
Nick Black single up the middle that would advance
Andrew Auton from first to third. On the same play, Black would round first and get caught in a pickle between first and second that would see
Andrew Auton score and Black get tagged out by the first baseman to end the inning. The Big Blue would lead 2-1 after four.
Millikin would add another run in the fifth inning as
Ethan Current stepped up to the plate with two outs and
Kyle Kane in scoring position on third base. Current would drive a base hit to right center field that would score Kane from third and give Millikin a 3-1 edge.
Loras would tie the game in the top of the sixth inning with the first run coming from an RBI single to right field by Ryan Wohlers that would score Luke Fennelly, who was on third after hitting a triple down the left field line. The go ahead run would score two batters later on a Dylan Pardo RBI double down the left field line that would score Wohlers from third, tying the game at 3-3 after six innings of play.
Gabe Soria would come to the plate with two outs in the bottom of the seventh with
Lane Belleville on second after recording a double to deep right center field just two batters earlier. Soria would hit a grounder to the pitcher that would see Soria reach base and advance to second on a throwing error by pitcher Tanner Fallon. Belleville would score on the play to bring the score to the final score of 4-3.
Jared Buzan would pick up the win for Millikin, allowing no runs to be scored on no hits, striking out three.
Brent Beals would pick up his first save of the year in relief of
Jared Buzan in the ninth inning, striking out all three of the batters he faced. Tanner Fallon would earn the loss for the Duhawks.
The Big Blue would play host to the Knox College Prairie Fire in the second game of the afternoon and would fall in heartbreaking fashion after making a strong push late in the game.
Ben Williamson would get the call to start at pitcher for the Big Blue against Knox College and would have a rough outing, throwing only 1.1 innings allowing six runs on six hits with no strikeouts. Knox's Andrew Ponce had an impressive showing on the bump allowing three runs on five hits and striking out six in 7.0 innings pitched.
Knox would come out of the gate with hot bats, scoring four runs in the top of the first inning. The first two runs would score on a double to right field by Brendan Powers that would score Juston Woodard and Trevan Lowtharp. Knox would again score two on a Matthew Shover single to right field that would score Brendan Powers and Kobe Shutter to give the Prairie Fire a 4-0 lead after the top hlf o fthe first.
Millikin would record their first run of the game in the bottom of the first inning with
Gabe Soria leading off with a triple to deep right center field. Soria would then score on a wild pitch with
Mason McGahey at the plate to take the score to 4-1 after one.
In the top of the second, Knox would take their lead to 6-1scoring first on a Juston Woodard stolen second base that would see Kendall Ballman score from third on the throw to second. Woodard would then cross the plate on an RBI single up the middle by Kobe Shutter.
Knox would add another insurance run in the fourth inning on an error by center fielder
Brent Beals that would see Trevan Lowtharp reach second and Juston Woodard score on the play. The Prairie Fire would lead 7-1 after four innings.
The Big Blue would respond in the fifth inning on an RBI single to left field that would see two runs cross the plate in
Gabe Soria and
Ethan Current to cut the deficit to just three runs midway through the contest.
A huge two-out eighth inning push would see the score tie at 7-7 with
Nick Black getting the rally starting on single to the shortstop that would would score
Andrew Auton from third. A batter later,
Kyle Kane would come to the plate and hammer a double down the right field line that would bring Black around the bases and score from first.
Kyle Kane would then score on a single to right field by
Frank Bryan to bring up
Tre Corley, who would pinch hit for
Jackson Chase. Corley would tie the game up with an RBI double to the wall in right center field that would score Bryan from first.
Knox would close the door in the top of the ninth inning scoring three to win 10-7 and give the Big Blue their only loss of the weekend.
Kobe Shutter would record his first win of the season for Knox while Owen Hoals would be awarded the save.
Jacob Hennessy would get his first loss of the year, allowing three runs in 1.0 innings pitched.
The Big Blue will be back at the Workman Family Baseball Field on Saturday, March 14 as they host Alma College at 10:00 PM.
