After Rain Delays, Scots Baseball Falls to Illinois College Monday

Scots must win twice at Knox Tuesday to win division

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (05/18/2021) — The Monmouth College baseball team had a long busy Monday that started with a 10 a.m. bus trip to Jacksonville and ended with a 10-8 loss to Illinois College more than 12 hours later. The loss puts the Scots at 14-8 in conference, 16-10 overall. Illinois College and Grinnell are both done with their conference slate at 16-8 while the Scots head to Knox College on Tuesday for two must-win ballgames.

Monday's game was originally scheduled as game two of an April 24 double header and then scheduled for a 2 p.m. start on campus. Both teams were ready to go at 2 p.m. but mother nature was not. The game was delayed again and the venue was changed with a 6:30 p.m. start on the all-turf field at Futures Champions Sports Complex in Jacksonville.

The BlueBoys scored in the second inning to take a 1-0 lead. The Scots tied the game on a wild pitch in the third inning before the game was delayed again. When play resumed with two on and two out, Justin Bost (Reynolds, Illinois) singled to score Logan Komater (Ottawa, Illinois) and put the Scots on top 2-1.

Illinois College scored seven runs in the fourth inning to take an 8-2 lead. Only three of the seven runs were earned against Scots starter AJ Hatlestad (New Windsor, Illinois). Lefty Jeff Garrett (Aledo, Illinois) got three outs to end the fourth but the damage was done.

Monmouth came right back in the top of the fifth with a two-out rally. Nate Melvin (Ottawa, Illinois) singled home Mike Dato (Oswego, Illinois) to cut the lead to 8-3. Shamus Murphy (Milan, Illinois) walked to bring home Bost and Jordan Ball (Moscow Mills, Missouri) doubled home two more. Alec Lyle (Farmer City, Illinois), who replaced Matt Temaner (Gurnee, Illinois) an inning earlier, singled home Murphy to get the Scots within one.

Illinois College scored in the seventh for a 9-7 lead. In the top of the eighth the Scots loaded the bases as Dato, Bost and Melvin all singled. With two outs, Jake Brewer (Gibson City, Illinois) drew a walk to make it 9-8 but the Scots left the bases loaded.

The BlueBoys added an insurance run in the eighth inning to take a 10-8 lead. Ball led off the ninth with a single and made it to third base on a groundout and wild pitch. But that was as close as the Scots got, falling 10-8.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Sean Davis (Barrington, Illinois) has a 20-game hit streak dating back to April 3 at CornellWith three at-bats and a run scored before he left the game, Temaner is now tied for second on the Scots career runs list (128) and tied for ninth in career at-bats (455)Ball had his seventh multi-hit game and ninth multi-RBI game of the seasonHe leads the Scots with 33 RBI and 16 extra-base hitsBall is also batting a team-high .359 just ahead of Bost's .355Trevor Davis (Waterloo, Illinois) threw the final four innings for the Scots, keeping them in the game..The Scots are scheduled to play a 1:30 p.m. double header at Knox on TuesdayA sweep of those games leaves the Scots, BlueBoys and Grinnell all tied at 16-8The Scots win a three-way tiebreaker thanks to a 7-5 record against the other two teams while IC is 6-6 and Grinnell is 5-7The Scots went 3-3 against IC and 4-2 against Grinnell while the BlueBoys and Pioneers split six games.