Baseball Splits With First-Place Beloit on Senior Day

Scots remain tied for third with a week left in MWC action

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (04/27/2025) — The Monmouth College baseball team split a home doubleheader on Senior Day against Beloit with a 3-2 win and a 16-6 loss on Saturday . The Fighting Scots (15-18, 10-7) are now a half game behind first-place Beloit and tied for third in the MWC standings, two games up on Ripon and Grinnell. Monmouth has four conference games left while other teams have five or six to play over the next eight days.

Beloit took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning with an unearned run off Monmouth starter Ehtan Zaayenga (Tremont, Illinois).

Monmouth's best early chance came in the second inning. Clayton Matkovic (Monmouth, Illinois) walked with one out and Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) singled with two down. A strikeout ended the inning with two left on base.

The pitchers duel moved into the sixth inning with the lead unchanged. Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois) walked with one out and Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) doubled into left-center. With two down, Beloit made an error on a grounder from Matkovic allowing both runs to score as the Scots took a 2-1 lead.

Reed walked with one out in the eighth and moved to third as Dye reached on an error at second base. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) gave the Scots a 3-1 lead with an infield single to shortstop as Reed scored.

Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) was perfect for two innings before allowing a solo home run with two outs. He picked up the save on a flyout to center field as the Scots won 3-2.

Zaayenga (4-3) earned the win with no earned runs allowed over six innings. He struck out four and walked three. Wolfe allowed just one hit in his three innings while striking out four.

GAME TWO

Beloit jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the second inning of game two against Roy Ralston (Macon, Illinois). Three singles from the first four batters plated a run before the Bucs stranded two. They made it 2-0 in the third with a solo home run.

The Scots got on the board in the third. Hunter Wheat (Athens, Illinois) reached on an error and Reed walked with one out. With two down, Guillermo walked to load the bases. Matkovic singled to right as Wheat scored but Reed was thrown out at the plate to end the inning.

Beloit pushed the lead to 7-1 in the fourth. Ralston gave up two runs and gave way to Caleb Ochs (Royal, Illinois) with one on. A double made it 5-1 and a home run put the visitors on top 7-1

Tyler Ithal (Mokena, Illinois) threw a clean fifth but gave up a 2-run homer in the sixth. He gave way to Heath Hornke (Normal, Illinois) with two on base and Beloit pushed the lea to 12-1 with a sacrifice fly and double.

The Scots picked up an earned run in the sixth as Matkovic singled and Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) singled. Both moved up on a passed ball and Matkovic scored on a ground out.

Senior Luke Kelty (Spring Valley, Illinois) threw the seventh and didn't allow a hit. Beloit scored on a sacrifice fly to lead 13-1

Senior Jonas Buckles (Albuquerque, New Mexico) led off the seventh with a single and Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) singled. Reid Stufflebeem (Monmouth, Illinois) walked and gave way to fellow senior Drew Brown (Alexis, Illinois), Dye drove home two with a single and Guillermo cut the deficit to 13-5 with a sacrifice fly.

Beloit pushed the lead back to 10 with a pair off Gianni Gallichio (Yorkville, Illinois) in the eighth. Monmouth kept the game alive in the bottom of the inning as Jacob Blunck (Forsyth, Illinois) and Lummus both singled. With two down and down to their last strike, Biunck scored on a wild pitch.

Beloit again went back up by 10 with a run in the top of the ninth. Guillermo singled to start the bottom of the inning but a fly out and double play ended the game.

Ralston (2-3) took the loss as he allowed five runs over 3 innings with one strikeout.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Guillermo moved into second on the career games played list with 141 passing Harry Sanchez and Beau Hellman ... He also moved into third on the career AB list with 531 and he moved past Michael Blaesing into sixth on the career hits list with 161 ... Guillermo has an 11-game hit streak ... He is the third player in school history to have at least 40 RBI in a single season and also ranks eighth on the single-season total bases list ... Lummus moved into sixth on the career AB list, 14th on the games played list and 10th on the runs scored list ... He is also tied for 15th on the single-season runs scored list ... With four walks on Saturday, Reed has 32 on the season and 77 for his career ,,, He moved past Dayton Ince, Matt Temaner, Kevin Gordon and Jack Kuethe into third on the single-season walks list ... He also moved past Phil Tweedy for fourth on the career list ... Wolfe has 15 games pitched, tied with Nick Corman's 2022 season for ninth most on a single seasonHe is also tied for 10th on the career saves list with four ... Zaayenga has seven career wins, four this season ... The Scots walked 10 batters and hit three in game two ... Lummus, Dye and Guillermo had hits in both games ... The Scots honored 10 seniors pregame and all 10 played in the double header ... Both teams used more than 20 players in game two which took 3 hours and 15 minus ... Beloit leads the all-time series 22-21 and they are 12-3 against the Scots in the last 15 games ... Monmouth last won a season series of more than one game against Beloit in 1992 ... The teams play the rubber-game of the series at Noon on Sunday.