Scots Slug Past Rams on Friday

Monmouth tallies 21 hits in 15-11 win

by Nathan Baliva

MONMOUTH, ill. (04/19/2025) — The Monmouth College baseball team pounded out a season-high 21 hits to rally past last place Cornell (10-18, 2-8) 15-11 on Friday night. The Fighting Scots (11-17, 6-6) got five hits from Nate Reed (Chenoa, Illinois), four from Alexander Dye (Albuquerque, New Mexico) and five played had at least two RBI in the win.

Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) started the game with a single and he moved to third as Reed doubled. With one out, Raul Guillermo (Miami, Florida) gave the Scots a 1-0 lead with a RBI groundout but Reed was left in scoring position.

Cornell took the lead in the bottom of the first with two home runs off Ethan Zaayenga (Tremont, Illinois). The first tied the game while the second came after a single and gave the Rams a 3-1 lead.

Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) led off the third with a single and Lummus doubled to center. Reed tied the game with a double and Dye singled to put runners on the corners. Guillermo reached on an error to load the bases and with one out, Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) put Monmouth on top 5-3 with a double to left-center. Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) added to the lead with a sacrifice fly to bring home Guillermo.

Cornell got a run back in the third with three straight singles. Reed singled with two outs in the fourth and he moved to second on a single by Dye. Guillermo's RBI single gave the Scots a 7-4 lead but they left two on base.

The Rams led off the bottom of the fourth with a walk and a single. Two straight groundouts scored a run as they cut the lead back to two. They scored another in the fifth and took the lead in the sixth as they knocked Zaayenga from the game. Caleb Ochs (Royal, Illinois) gave up a hit and a walk before escaping the inning with the Rams up 8-7.

Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) led off the seventh with a single and with one out, Scott singled to put runners on the corners. Pinch-hitter Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) threw a scoreless inning for the Scots in the seventh. Reed singled with one out in the eighth and Dye doubled. Cornell intentionally walked Guillermo to load the bases and Matkovic singled for a 9-8 Monmouth lead. Parkins singled home two more and took second on the throw home before the Rams changed pitchers. Scott delivered his second sacrifice fly of the game as Matkovic scored for a 12-8 lead.

The Rams got a 2-out rally against Wolfe in the eighth and plated a run with an infield single. With the tying run at the plate as a pinch-hitter, Monmouth escaped the inning with a flyout to left.

Lummus, Reed and Dye all singled with one out in the ninth, pushing the Scots to 20 hits on the game with Reed picking up his fifth hit of the game. Guillermo singled home Lummus for a 13-9 lead and Matkovic walked to bring home Reed. A passed ball plated Dye before Cornell got out of the inning.

Leading 15-9, Nick Villa (El Segundo, California) took over on the mound in the ninth. A leadoff walk and 2-run homer cut the lead to four. Villa retired the next three batters to finish off the game.

Zaayenga allowed eight runs on 12 hits over 5 innings while striking out two in a no-decision. Wolfe (3-1) picked up the win with two innings of work has he allowed one run and struck out one.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Guillermo became the ninth player in school history to score 100 career runs and the first to reach the mark since Jake Starkey ('19) ... With 101 runs scored he ranks eighth on the Monmouth career list ... He has all three international walks issued to Monmouth this season ... He also moved into a tie with Thad King for fifth on the games played listLummus moved past Chris Wheat on the career hits and he moved into the top 15 in career runs scored ... Parkins tied his season and career high from March 9 with four RBI ,,, Dye has a 9-game hit streak, Guillermo has a 6-game hit streak and Parkins has a 5-game hit streak ... Reed had a career-high five hits and has back-to-back games with at least three hits ... His five hits is tied for the second-most in a game in school history, one off the record set by Chuck Brockett on May 19, 1981 ... The last player to have five hits was Logan Komater on March 4, 2023 in Florida and Reed had four hits in that game ... That game against SUNY-Maritime was the last time the Scots had 20 hits in a game before Friday ... Reed tied his career high with four runs scored ... Dye had four hits, tying his career high from April 1, 2024Lummus and Parkins had three hits while Guillermo and Matkovic had two ... Lummus, Reed, Dye, Guillermo and Matkovic all had at least two runs scored ... Zaayenga has gone at least five innings in five straight games. ... With a team-leading 13 appearances, Wolfe is in the top 15 on Monmouth's single-season appearances list ... Wolfe has five career wins, second to Zaayenga on the active roster ... His three wins this year are tied for the team lead with Zaayenga ... Monmouth is 6-4 against Cornell in the last 10 but the Rams won the season series in 2024 ... All-time, Monmouth leads 104-43-2 ... The teams play a DH in Monmouth on Saturday at Noon though the games were originally scheduled to be played at Cornell.