Wilkerson Sets Season HR Record as Scots Clinch MWC Tournament Berth
Scots will face Grinnell Friday morning
MONMOUTH, Ill. (05/03/2026) — The Monmouth College baseball team clinched a return trip to the MWC Tournament with a 15-12 win at Lawrence on Sunday as Jace Wilkerson (East Peoria, Illinois) set the single-season school record with 12 homers. Wilkerson homered twice on the day as the Fighting Scots (16-21, 11-10) secured fourth place and a trip to the MWC Tournament at Grinnell.
"We battled today and that was a great team win," said head coach Alan Betourne. "The hitters put us in a good spot to win. This weekend got us prepared for next weekend and we will be ready for the challenge."
Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) led off the game with a walk and he moved to second on a balk with one out. Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) singled and Wilkerson walked to load the bases. Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) gave the Scots a 1-0 lead and Jacob Blunck (Forsyth, Illinois) added a RBI single before two strikeouts left the bases loaded.
Brandon Coats (Mapleton, Illinois) retired the Vikings in order in the first and the Scots added on in the second. Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) walked to start the inning and Parkins singled. With one out, Matkovic made it 3-0 with a sacrifice fly before the Vikings got out of the inning.
Lawrence took advantage of two straight walks to start the bottom of the second. With one out, they collected three straight singles to score two, but they also left the bases loaded.
Leading 3-2, the Scots kept the bats going in the third. Campen led off with a walk and with one out, Zach Almaguer (Monmouth, Illinois) delivered his team-leading 11th double of the season for a 4-2 lead. Zeigler-Harris walked and Parkins drove home his 31st run of the season with a single. Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) singled home Zeigler-Harris for a 6-2 lead
Neither team threatened in the fourth or fifth. Scott and Matkovic had back-to-back singles to start the sixth and Wilkerson doubled home both runners for an 8-2 lead. Wilkerson moved up on a groundout and scored on a single by Blunck.
Parkins was hit by a pitch with one out in the seventh and Matkovic walked with two down. Wilkerson launched his 11th homer of the season, tying the Monmouth record, to put the Scots up 12-2.
Lawrence cut the lead to 12-4 with a walk and homer in the bottom of the seventh. Clayton Rentschler (Riverton, Illinois) took over for Coats and a single, walk and homer pulled Lawrence within five. Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) got a strikeout to end the inning and blanked the Vikings in the eighth.
Matkovic led off the ninth with a single and Wilkerson broke the single-season home run record with a 2-run blast for a 14-7 lead. Campen reached on an error, Almaguer doubled and a wild pitch gave the Scots a 15-7 lead.
The Vikings battled in the bottom of the ninth with a lead off singled and then a walk. Ryan Garofoli (Chicago, Illinois) took over for Wolfe and a 3-run homer made it a 15-10 game. After two walks, Will Baumgartner (Sycamore, Illinois) came out of the pen and walked the first batter to load the bases. A groundout scored a run and a sacrifice fly made it 15-12 with a runner on second. An infield pop up ended the game and put the Scots in the MWC Tournament.
Coats (3-5) got the win as he allowed four runs on seven hits over six innings while striking out five. Rentschler allowed three runs on three hits in 2/3 of an inning. Wolfe allowed two runs on two hits with two strikeouts in 1 1/3 innings. Garofoli allowed three runs on two walks and one hit while Baumgartner walked one in a shutout and hitless inning.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: The Scots will play regular-season champion Grinnell at 9 a.m. Friday at Pioneer Park in Grinnell, IowaWith a win the Scots play at 12:30 p.m. Friday and with a loss they play at 4 p.m. Friday ... The other semifinal is Illinois College vs. Beloit, also at 9 a.m. Friday ... Wilkerson moved past Taylor Thiel (2002) and Raul Guillermo (2025) to set the single-season record with 12 home runs ,,, Wilkerson has two multi-homer games this season ... His seven RBI in a game are tied for third-most in a game in MC history and the most since Jack Kuethe drove in seven at IC in 2023 ... Wilkerson is third on the single-season RBI list with 46 ... He moved into sixth on the single-season total bases list with 88Parkins had at least two hits in all three games of the series ... Parkins, Matkovic and Wilkerson each had three hits ... Matkovic scored four runs ... Blunck had two RBIAlmaguer had two doubles ... Matkovic moved into a tie for third on the career list with 140 games played ... He also moved up to sixth on the career at-bats list and he is 11th in hits ... Scott moved into the top 20 in career hits ... Wolfe moved into a tie for eighth in appearances, matching Cade Sharp ... The Scots are 17-10 all-time against Lawrence including a 3-1 mark last season ... The teams last played a regular season series in Appleton in 2023 as Monmouth won two of three.
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