Baseball Swept by IC in MWC Opener

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (03/23/2025) — The Monmouth College baseball team opened conference play with 10-1 and 10-0 losses at Illinois College on Saturday. The Fighting Scots (4-11, 0-2) have one more game on the road this week before the home opener next Saturday. As of 9:30 p.m. box scores had not yet been provided by IC.

IC got on the board early in game one against Monmouth starter Ethan Zaayenga (Tremont, Illinois). Monmouth came right back and loaded the bases in the second inning. Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) led off with a single, Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) singled and Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois) walked. With one out, Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) tied the game with a sacrifice fly but the Scots left two on base.

Monmouth left two more on base in the third after Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) and Guillermo both singled. The Blueboys regained the lead with two in the fourth and broke the game open with a 4-run sixth inning. They added three runs off reliever Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) in the eighth.

GAME TWO

Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) singled with one out in the first inning of game two but was stranded at third. The Blueboys took the lead on a solo homer in the bottom of the second off Monmouth starter Toby Turnquist (Monmouth, Illinois). The Fighting Scots were held in check on offense as Reed picked up two singles but was out at second base on both occasions.

IC scored five times off Turnquist in the fifth inning and three runs off Brandon Coats (Mapleton, Illinois) in the sixth. A pair of 1-out doubles in the seventh inning ended the game 10-0 on the run rule.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Monmouth had 12 hits on the day, 11 singles and a double by Reid Stufflebeem (Galesburg, Illinois).. ... Reed had two hits in both games and flour on the day ... Guillermo had two hits in the opener and now has 135 career hits, passing Thad King (2002-05) for 16th in Monmouth history ... He also passed Beau Hellman (2000-03) and Ryan Priola (2005-08) to move into 10th on the at-bats list ... Reed is now tied for eighth on the career hit by pitches list with 15 ... Monmouth only committed one error on the day but struck out 25 times ... IC had not won a season series since 2022 ... The teams are 5-5 head-t0-head in the last 10 gamesThe final game of the series will be in Monmouth on April 23 ... Monmouth plays at Augustana Thursday night ... The Scots host Lawrence in the home opener Saturday with a noon DH and the teams play a single game at noon on Sunday, March 30.

Raul

Guillermo