Baseball Loses Twice to Cornell on Wednesday

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (04/24/2024) — The Monmouth College baseball team lost to Cornell 9-0 and 5-1 at home on Wednesday in Midwest Conference action. The Fighting Scots (15-15, 8-9) aer still in fourth place in the standings, a half game ahead of the Rams with one extra game to play.

Cornell had the bases loaded with no outs in the second against Monmouth starter Tyler Sears (Bloomington, Illinois). After a flyout to right, Sears induced a pop up to second and a grounder to second to escape the inning. Monmouth put two on to start the third as Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) singled to left and Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) walked. But a double play and a groundout kept the game scoreless.

Cornell plated four against Sears in the fifth. With a runner on second, Cade Sharp (Aledo, Illinois) came out of the bullpen and got the final two outs of the inning. The Rams extended the lead to 9-0 in the sixth with a grand slam.

In the seventh, the Scots loaded the bases with one out on singles by Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois), Jacob Blunck (Forsyth, Illinois) and Scott. However, a strikeout and lineout ended the inning with the bases left loaded.

Sears (0-2) took the loss while reliever Brandon Coats (Mapleton, Illinois) threw 2 shutout innings in relief of Sharp. Senior Derrick Fitzgerald (Robetsville, Missouri) threw a perfect 1-2-3 inning in the ninth.

GAME TWO

The Rams took an early lead in game two against Clayton Rentschler (Riverton, Illinois). They plated one run in the first and another in the second to lead 2-0.

Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) got Monmouth's first hit with a two-out single in the third. Reed followed with a single but Dye was out in a rundown between second and third to end the inning.

Monmouth didn't get another hit until Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) led off the seventh with a single to left. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) walked and Cornell went to the bullpen before escaping the threat with two strikeouts and a pop-up.

The Rams capitalized in the eighth with a leadoff single and a two-out double against Nick Villa (El Segundo, California) to go on top 3-0. They loaded the bases on a walk and made it 4-0 on another walk.

Scott singled with one out in the eighth and Tyler Houck (Park Ridge, Illinois) walked with two outs. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch and Lummus walked to load the bases but a strikeout ended the inning.

Cornell scored an unearned run in the ninth against Lummus to lead 5-0. Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) led off the bottom of the ninth with a single. He moved to second on a wild pitch, to third on a fly out and scored on a wild pitch but the Scots were unable to add on. Rentschler (0-1) took the loss in his second start of the season.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Reed and Scott had hits in both games Scott had two hits in game one All 12 hits for Monmouth on the day were singles Fitzgerald pitched at home for the first time this season with his perfect inning With his 38th career outing, Sharp is ninth on the Monmouth appearances list Sharp registered his 100th career strikeout in the sixth inning The Scots are 103-43-2 all-time against Cornell and had won four straight at home dating back to April 22, 2021 Monmouth won the season series in 2022 and 2023 The Scots are scheduled to host Beloit in a Saturday doubleheader at Noon.