Baseball Rally Falls Short in 4-3 Sunday Loss

Scots left tying on base as game ended

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (04/24/2022) — The Monmouth College baseball team rallied late but left the tying run on base in the ninth inning in a 4-3 loss to first-place Lawrence University on Sunday. The loss ends a five-game win streak for the Scots who are now 6-11 in Midwest Conference play with seven games remaining.

Monmouth had a couple scoring chances early. Nate Melvin (Ottawa, Illinois) singled with one out in the first and moved to second on a groundout. But he was left at second as another grounder ended the frame.

Jack Kuethe (Pekin, Illinois) led off the second inning with a single but was left in scoring position. The Scots sacrificed him to second base before a strikeout and ground out ended the inning.

Monmouth didn't get another runner into scoring position until the seventh. Lawrence scored against Jeff Garrett (Aledo, Illinois) with a double and two groundouts in the fourth. Three singles in the sixth inning gave the Vikings a 2-0 lead and they scratched across a pair of runs in the seventh, with the last scoring on a wild pitch.

Justin Bost (Reynolds, Illinois) led off the seventh with a single and Kuethe walked to put two runners on base for the first time in the game. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) drew a walk to load the bases and Jackson Van Iwaarden (Ballwin, Missouri) singled home a pair of runs. After a sac bunt, Guillermo scored on a wild pitch to cut the Lawrence lead to 4-3 but the tying run was left at third base.

Monmouth put two more runners on base in the eighth as Melvin led off with a walk and Kuethe walked with two outs. A wild pitch moved both runners up 90 feet but a grounder to third ended the inning.

Van Iwaarden led off the ninth with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Kaden Holesinger (East Moline, Illinois). A strikeout, flyout to center and a pop up ended the game with the tying run at first base.

Garrett allowed four runs on seven hits over seven innings. He walked one and struck out eight. Hunter de la Rosa (Moline, Illinois) got a 1-2-3 eighth inning. Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) allowed a hit and got a strikeout in a scoreless ninth inning.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Melvin had three hits, all singles, while also drawing a walkVan Iwaarden had two singles Sunday and three RBI in the seriesMonmouth heads to Knox on Tuesday to finish a game that was suspended by rain on April 5Knox leads 3-1 in the top of the sixth inning and the game will resume at 4:30 p.m.The Scots play at Cornell on Wednesday at 6 p.m. and host Knox at 4:30 p.m. Thursday.