Guillermo, Dye Homer but Scots Fall 16-14 on Thursday

by Nathan Baliva

Monmouth, IL (03/13/2025) — The Monmouth College baseball team lost a 16-14 slugfest to Westfield State on Thursday at Holman Stadium at the Jackie Robinson Training Complex. The Fighting Scots (4-8) hit two home runs and pounded out 19 hits in the setback.

Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) led off with a triple and Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois) walked. Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) walked to load the bases and Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) gave the Scots a 2-0 lead with a single. With two outs, Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) singled to make it 3-0 as Guillermo scored.

Westfield State scored two unearned runs off Monmouth starter Ethan Zaayenga (Tremont, Illinois) in the first and neither team scored in the second.

Guillermo led off the third with a double to right and Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) launched a home run past the palm tree in right-center, over the 375-foot wall. The Scots left two on base and the Owls scored one in the bottom of the inning.

Leading 5-3, the Scots added on in the fourth, Parkins and Dye both singled and Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) put the Scots on top 7-3 with a double.

The Owls took advantage of a Monmouth error to open the flood gates in the fifth. After two runs scored, Roy Ralston (Macon, Illinois) took over on the mound for Zaayenga. A 3-run homer and a 2-run shot put the Owls up 10-7.

Dye walked with one out in the sixth and moved up on a wild pitch. Campen reached on an infield single and the errant throw allowed Dye to score. Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) singled home Campen but the Owls answered with an inside the park home run to lead 11-9.

Parkins hit by a pitch to start the seventh and Guillermo crushed a game-tying home run to straight away center field. Dye was hit by a pitch and with one out, Campen singled. Zeigler-Harris walked to load the bases and Reid Stufflebeem (Galesburg, Illinois) delivered a go-ahead pinch-hit single. Lummus made it 13-11 with a sacrifice fly but the Scots left the bases loaded.

The Owls hit two more homers in the bottom of the seventh. The latter was a go-ahead two-run homer for a 14-13 lead. Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) came out of the bullpen and ended the inning with a strikeout.

Guillermo led off the eighth with a walk and scored on a double by Dye, tying the game at 14. The Scots loaded the bases but lost a runner at the plate on a fielders' choice and a flyout ended the frame.

The Owls regained the lead against Wolfe (1-1) with a double, bunt single and wild pitch in the ninth. They added another run to lead 16-14 and retired the Scots in order to end the game.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Guillermo tied Taylor Thiel (1999-02) and Craig Foxall (1993-96) for second on the career home run list with 18, one off the record .... He moved past Mike Dato (2017-21) and into a tie with Chris Wheat (1987-90) for third on the career RBI list with 110 ... He also collected his 32nd double, tying Dave Bratten (1993-96) for eighth on the career list and his 223 total bases jumped Dato for ninth all-time ... Lummus, Guillermo, Dye and Campen all had three hits while Matkovic and Reed had two eachGuillermo drove in four runs while Dye had three RBI and Matkovic had two ... Dye scored four times while Guillermo and Perkins scored three times .... Reed, Zeigler-Harris and Hunter Wheat (Athens, Illinois) walked twice each ... The Scots had seven extra-base hits ... Monmouth left 17 runners on base ... Monmouth out-hit WSU 19-15 and drew 10 walks to the Owls seven ... Monmouth won the only previous matchup, 9-3 in 2001 ... The Scots play their final game of the trip at 10:00 a.m. ET Friday against Lasell.