Lummus Hits Grand Slam as Scots Split Saturday DH

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, Ill. (04/06/2025) — The Monmouth College baseball team split a Midwest Conference doubleheader on the road Saturday with a 9-8 win and a 19-6 loss at Grinnell. The Fighting Scots (8-14, 3-4) won their first MWC road game of the season in the opener and can win the series on Sunday.

The Pioneers took a 3-0 lead against Ethan Zaayenga (Tremont, Illinois) in the first inning with three singles and two errors. Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) was hit by a pitch and Hunter Wheat (Athens, Illinois) doubled with one out in the second. Campen came home on a wild pitch as Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) walked. Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois) also walked and Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) tied the game 3-3 with a single.

The Scots took the lead in the third. Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) led off with a double and Aiden Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) walked. Wheat walked with one out and with two down, Lummus cranked a grand slam for his third homer in seven days and a 7-3 Monmouth lead.

Dye walked to start the fourth and Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) singled before a pitching change. Both moved up on a wild pitch and Parkins made it 8-3 with a single. Campen drove home Guillermo with another hit and Monmouth led 9-3 with nine unanswered runs.

Grinnell hit a solo homer in the fourth and added two more in the fifth with two hits, two walks and an error. Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) came in with the bases loaded and a 9-7 lead in the sixth and a strikeout ended the inning. Wolfe allowed a solo homer in the eighth and the Scots took a one run lead into the ninth.

Nick Villa (El Segundo, California) issued a walk to start the ninth before a sac bunt and a single put runners on the corners. With two outs, a walk loaded the bases but a groundout to Wheat at shortstop ended the game with the Scots winning 9-8.

Zaayenga (2-3) picked up the win as he allowed five earned runs over 5 innings with two strikeouts. Wolfe struck out three and allowed a run over 2 innings while Villa earned his second save with one shutout inning and a strikeout.

Game Two

Monmouth staked Toby Turnquist (Monmouth, Illinois) to a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Matkovic reached on an error, Campen walked and Aidan Scott (Carrollton, Texas) doubled for a 1-0 lead. Campen scored on an error as Lummus reached but Grinnell tied the game in the bottom of the inning with a 2-run homer.

The Pioneers scored two in the third with a single and two doubles. A hit batter and two singles loaded the bases in the fourth. After an error gave the Pioneers a 5-2 lead, a grand slam made it a 5-run inning. Brandon Coats (Mapleton, Illinois) took over in the fifth and Grinnell scored six runs on just two hits as they drew three walks and a hit batter. They added four more with a pair of 2-run homers in the sixth.

The Scots offense got going again in the seventh. Lummus singled, Reed was hit by a pitch and Dye launched a 3-run homer to cut the Grinnell lead to 19-5. The homer is the second of the season for Dye. Matkovic and Reid Stufflebeem (Galesburg, Illinois) both walked and Campen was hit by a pitch. Scott was also plunked, scoring Matkovic but when the next two batters were retired, the game was over on the run-rule.

Turnquist (2-4) took the loss with seven earned runs allowed as he struck out three. Coats struck out one and allowed eight earned runs in two innings.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Guillermo moved into a tie for 12th with Harry Sanchez on the career hits list ... With 130 career games played, Guillermo moved into a tie for 12th with Casey Boydstun ... Lummus moved into 17th in career at-bats and into a tie for 15th in career hits ... Villa is tied with NIck Corman, Zach Myers and Steve Mumma for sixth on the career saves list with five ... Lummus also homered at Grinnell last year and three of his four career homers have come in the last five games ... Lummus, Dye, Matkovic and Parkins all had two hits in game one ... Reed had two hits in game two and was also hit by a pitch for the 16th time in his career, tied for eighth in MC history ... Lummus, Reed and Dye had hits in both games ... With his 30th career outing, Turnquist moved into the top 20 on Monmouth's career list for games pitched ... Monmouth leads the all-time series 144-69 but Grinnell is 9-2 since the start of the 2022 season ... The next home game is against Knox on Saturday, April 12.