Baseball Falls to PSU-Behrend on Wednesday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (03/12/2025) — The Monmouth College baseball team lost to Penn State-Behrend 8-3 on Wednesday. The Fighting Scots (4-7) are now 3-4 on the trip with two games left.

The Lions took the lead in the first inning against Monmouth starting pitcher Weslee Frame (Fairview, Illinois). A leadoff double, bloop single and stolen base put two in scoring position with one out. A sacrifice fly to right gave PSU-B a 1-0 lead but Frame got a flyout to end the inning.

The Lions added an unearned run in the second after a single, stolen base with a throwing error, and an infield single. They made it 3-0 with a two-out single, stolen base and another single in the third. They added another run in the fourth with an error, sac bunt and a single and a run in the fifth on a triple and sacrifice fly.

Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois) led off the fifth with a 9-pitch walk and Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) singled to right-center. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) put Monmouth on the board with a double to left. Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) drove in Parkins with a groundout and the Lions changed pitchers. Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) walked and Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) brought home Guillermo with a fielders' choice. Jacob Blunck (Forsyth, Illinois) singled to right to put runners on the corners but the Lions escaped with a 5-3 lead.

Tyler Sears (Bloomington, Illinois) took over on the mound for his season debut and hit two batters. Tyler Ithal (Mokena, Illinois) issued a walk before getting two straight outs. The Lions pushed the lead to 7-3 with a two-out single that scored a pair.

Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) moved from center field to the mound in the bottom of the eighth inning. The Lions scored one run with a walk and two singles, all coming with two outs.

Campen reached on an error and Blunck walked to start the ninth but the Lions retired the next three batters to end the game. Frame (0-1) took the loss despite a career-high five innings of work

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Guillermo picked up his 106th career RBI, tying Ryan Priola (2005-08) and Craig Foxall (1993-96) for fifth in Monmouth history ... He also collected his 31st double, tying Mike Dato (2017-21), Grant Myers (2015-18) and Jason Salmon (2003-06) for 9th on the career list ... With 215 total bases he jumped over Austin Hardy (2014-17) into 11th and also moved into 12th in MC history with 441 at-bats, passing Mike Dato (2017-21) and Logan Komater (2020-23).. ... Frame made his first start in a Monmouth uniform and his first since starting for Cornell on March 13, 2024 in Florida ... He threw five innings, a career-high at the NCAA level ... Frame is the seventh different starting pitcher in seven games in Florida for the Fighting Scots ... Ithal pitched for the second straight day ... Lummus pitched three times last year, going one inning in three different April games ... Lummus didn't have a hit for the first time all-season, ending an 11-game hit streak that dated back to May of last season ... Monmouth leads the all-time series 3-2 ... The Lions won the most recent matchup in Florida in 2023 while the Fighting Scots won games in 2019 and 2020 ... Monmouth travels north to Vero Beach, Florida for a 10:00 a.m. ET game against Westfield State on Thursday ... The game will be played at Holman Stadium at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex, the former spring training home of the Los Angeles Dodgers.