Baseball Drops Season Finale to Lawrence

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (05/05/2024) — The Monmouth College baseball team lost their final game of the 2024 season to first-place Lawrence on Sunday. The Scots (17-21, 10-14) fell 16-6 in seven innings as the Vikings secured the series sweep.

Lawrence got on the board with a solo home run off senior Kraig Schipper (Fulton, Illinois) in the second. They added five more in the inning, including a 2-run homer off reliever Heath Hornke (Normal, Illinois)

Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) got the Scots on the board in the bottom of the second inning with a sacrifice fly that plated Jacob Blunck (Forsyth, Illinois). Blunck was hit by a pitch to start the inning before Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) singled and Gerardo Caballero (Chicago, Illinois) walked to load the bases before Matkovic's sac fly.

The Scots scored twice in the third before Lawrence escaped the inning with a defensive gem. Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) singled and Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) walked to put two on base. With one out, Blunck doubled home both runners to cut the Vikings lead to 6-3. Scott singled to put runners on the corners but Lawrence got an out at the plate on an inning-ending double play with Caballero flying out to center.

Lawrence got another big inning in the sixth that included a 2-run homer off Hornke before Tyler Ithal (Mokena, Illinois) took over on the mound. A double and consecutive singles gave Lawrence a 7-run inning and a 13-3 lead.

The Scots responded in the bottom of the inning. Blunck singled and with one out, Caballero walked. Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) ran for Caballero and both runners moved up as Matkovic walked with two outs. Senior Tyler Houck (Park Ridge, Illinois) singled home two runs and Matkovic scored on a wild pitch to cut the Vikings lead to 13-6.

The Vikings hit another homer in the seventh, this one off senior Derek Fitzgerald (Robertsville, Missouri). An error and a double pushed the lead to 16-6.

Schipper (0-1) took the loss with two earned runs allowed over 1 2/3 innings as he struck out one in his first career start.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: With two hits, Lummus tied Matkovic with 15 multi-hit games on the season Schipper made his varsity debut with the Senior Day start Caballero drew two walks in his first career start Kaden Holesinger (East Moline, Illinois) also made his first career start and made a juggling bare-handed catch in left field Matkovic, Houck, Scott and Lummus started all 38 games on the season while Dye played in all 38 games Houck collected his 50th career RBI with his single in the sixth Caballero, Houck, Holesinger, Fitzgerald, Schipper and Cade Sharp (Aledo, Illinois) were honored pregame in a Senior Day ceremony Matkovic led the team in runs (32), hits (52) walks (24) and triples (7) while tying with Dye for the team lead in doubles (9) Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) led the team in home runs (7) and RBI (33) The Scots are 12-8 all-time against Lawrence, 7-5 under Betourne.

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