Baseball Finishes Florida Trip with 3-2 Friday Win

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (03/13/2026) — The Monmouth College baseball team finished the Florida spring break trip with a 3-2 win over the United States Merchant Marine Academy on Friday. The Fighting Scots (4-10) went 4-5 on the trip and return to action on Thursday at home.

"A much needed win after yesterday and we battled today," said head coach Alan Betourne. "Weather necessitated more of a small ball approach today and Roy was great, giving us everything we needed. Still some things to work on when we get back but a nice team win today."

Neither team scored in the first three innings as Monmouth starter Roy Ralston (Macon, Illinois) struck out four. Logan Straube (Wheaton, Illinois) had the only hit for either team and the Mariners changed pitchers for the fourth inning. Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) drew a leadoff walk but three straight outs in the air ended the inning,

The Mariners got their first hit against Ralston to start the fourth. A balk and a ground out put a runner on third with one out. A single to left put USMMA on top 1-0 and a double off the wall in left added another run. Ralston got out of the inning with two straight strikeouts as USMMA left a runner at second.

Hunter Wheat (Athens, Illinois) walked with one out in the fifth and he moved to third on a perfectly executed hit-and-run single to right by Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois). Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) walked to load the bases and with Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) at the plate, a wild pitch scored Wheat. Scott walked and the Mariners changed pitchers with the bases loaded. Matkovic was hit by a pitch to tie the game and Cade Farquer (Williamsfield, Illinois) put the Scots on top with a sacrifice fly.

Ralston pitched around an error in the bottom of the fifth. Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) caught a sinking line drive in center as USMMA left the bases loaded. Ralston retired the Mariners in order in the sixth with two strikeouts, raising his total on the day to nine.

Campen and Scott both singled with one out in the seventh and Matkovic walked to load the bases. However, a 4-6-3 double play ended the threat.

Dane Keeven (Edwardsville, Illinois) took over on the mound in the seventh and struck out the first two batters. After a single, he got a pop up to end the frame. He again gave up a 2-out single in the eighth with a groundout ending the inning.

The Scots led 3-2 going into the bottom of the ninth. A 2-out walk brought the winning run to the plate but Keeven finished off the game with a strikeout.

"Dane executed the game plan and did exactly what we needed after yesterday," said Betourne. "We had it set up today and both pitchers did what we needed them to do.":

Ralston (1-3) picked up the win as he struck out a season-high nine over six innings of work. He allowed two runs on four hits while walking one, hitting three and striking out nine. Keeven earned his first collegiate save with three shutout innings as he allowed two hits, walked one and struck out three.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Campen had two hits for the second straight game and he has four multi-hit games on the season ... Ralston had a season-high nine strikeouts, one off the career high he set last April at Grinnell ... Zach Almaguer (Monmouth, Illinois) threw out a potential base stealer ... Monmouth drew seven walks on Friday, two by Matkovic who was also hit by a pitch ... Scott led Monmouth with 15 hits on the trip ... He had a hit in eight of the nine games and has a 5-game hitting streak ... Campen had a hit in all eight games he played in on the trip and has a 9-game hitting streakHe totaled 12 hits on the week and has scored in five straight games ,,, Matkovic had 10 hits ... Parkins and Campen both scored seven runs on the tripScott had four doubles ... Farquer and Parkins led the team with nine RBI each ... Ralston led all the pitchers with 17 strikeouts and 13 innings pitched ... Keeven was second with eight innings as he picked up his first win and save ... The Scots are 2-1 all-time against USMMA with a DH split in Florida last season ...Monday's scheduled high game against Maranatha Baptist has been canceled due to the forecast of 20 degree high ...The Scots next scheduled game is at home against Dominican at 1 p.m. on Thursday.