Baseball Splits Sunday DH With Ripon, Chicago

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (04/22/2024) — The Monmouth College baseball team split a unique home doubleheader on Sunday, beating Ripon 8-7 and losing to Chicago 8-0. The Fighting Scots (15-13, 8-7) swept the three-game series against Ripon and hold onto fourth place in the conference standings.

Ripon scored in the top of the first inning with two singles and two stolen bases against Monmouth starter Ethan Zaayenga (Tremont, Illinois). The Scots answered immediately in the bottom of the inning with a two-out rally. Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) doubled with two outs and Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) walked. Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) singled to right to tie the game and Guillermo came home on a throwing error for a 2-1 Scots lead.

Alexander Kindred (Atlanta, Illinois) doubled to left-center with one out in the second. Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) singled to put runners on the corners and Tyler Houck (Park Ridge, Illinois) gave the Scots a 3-1 lead with a sacrifice fly to right.

Ripon scored a run in the third and tied the game in the sixth with an unearned run off reliever Brandon Coats (Mapleton, Illinois). Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) led off the sixth with a walk and he moved to second on a sacrifice bunt by Kindred. Matkovic walked and Houck gave the Scots a 4-3 lead with a single to right-center. Lummus reached on a fielders' choice and the Scots went on top 6-3 on a 2-run double by Guillermo.

After two quick outs in the top of the seventh, the inning got away from the Scots. A double, two walks and an error at the bottom of the lineup made it 6-5. A stolen base and a pinch-hit single gave Ripon a 7-6 lead before Clayton Rentschler (RIverton, Illinois) took over for Coats and got out of the inning.

Nick VIlla (El Segundo, California) threw a scoreless eighth inning for the Scots. Matkovic led off the seventh with a walk and was out at second on a fielders; choice with Houck running. Lummus singled to put runners on the corners and Guillermo was hit by a pitch. After a pitching change, Parkins tied the game with a single to left and pinch-runner AJ Freeman (Rock Island, Illinois) scored on a fielders' choice off the bat of Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) for an 8-7 lead.

Villa finished off the Red Hawks in the ninth to move to 2-0 on the season. He struck out three, walked one and allowed a hit in two shutout innings. Zaayenga struck out four over five innings of work while neither Coats nor Rentschler allowed an earned run.

GAME TWO

Chicago took a 3-0 lead in the second inning against Roy Ralston (Macon, Illinois). They scored on a sacrifice fly and a 2-run homer. The Maroons added four unearned runs in the sixth and a final run against Heath Hornke (Normal, Illinois) in the seventh.

Monmouth only had two runners on base in the same inning once. Parkins and Dye both walked in the seventh with one out, but the second Maroons double play of the game ended the inning.

Ralston took the loss with three earned runs allowed over 5 innings. Rentschler, Tyler Sears (Bloomington, Illinois) and Lummus all had scoreless relief outings.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Matkovic has hit safely in 18 of the last 20 games He has 12 multi-hit games Lummus has hit safely in 23 of 28 games this season He has 10 multi-hit games Lummus, Guillermo, Matkovic and Parkins had two hits against Ripon Matkovic and Parkins had hits in both games Reed has been hit by a team-leading nine pitches this season, tied for seventh most in a season Houck's single in game one was his 100th career hit Guillermo is the 22nd player in Monmouth history with at least 25 doubles and the 13th with at least 90 RBI Kindred had his first career double against Ripon Lummus pitched at home for the first time in his career, his fourth overall pitching appearance The Scots are 26-24 all-time against Ripon The Scots play a home doubleheader against Cornell at Noon on Wednesday.