IC Baseball Falls To Grinnell In Series Opener

GRINNELL, Iowa. - The Illinois College baseball team returned to Midwest Conference play with a visit to Grinnell College Saturday afternoon. The Blueboys battled the Pioneers but fell short by the final score of 3-13. 

Jack McGuire earned eleventh start of the season on the mound as he got in a jam in the bottom of the first. With two Grinnell runners on base, the Pioneers struck first on the scoreboard with on a fielder's choice groundout at Connor Hennemann at shortstop that made the score 0-1. 

In the top the second, Tyler Barker led off the inning with a infield single to short and advanced to second on a Hennemann sacrifice bunt. After a error that allow Logan Schweigert to reach base, Jon Tate ripped a single to center that loaded the bases. With one out, the Blueboys failed to get a runner across the plate as the score remained 0-1. 

After a scoreless second inning by McGuire, Grinnell added two runs in the top of the third on a two-run homerun by Ethan Crawford that made the score 0-3. In the top of the fourth inning, Barker led off the inning with a double to the gap of left center. Two batters later, Logan Schweigert sliced a single to right that advanced Barker to third. With one out, Tate got IC on the board with a rbi single to right that scored Barker that cut the deficit to 1-3. 

In the top of the fifth, IC made a pitching change to reliever Andrew Wieneke. Three batters later, the Pioneers extended the deficit to 1-6 with a three-run home run by Ben Kelly. In the sixth, Grinnell added a single run that made the score 1-7. 

In the top of the seventh, Ryne Mapes and Adam Passmore got the inning started with back-to-back two-out singles. The leading RBI leader for the Blueboys in Louie Bartletti followed up with a double down the right field line that scored Mapes and Passmore for his 50th and 51st rbi's of the season that made the score 3-7. 

In the bottom of the seventh, the Pioneers opened up the game with a five-run inning that included two hits that made the score 3-12. In the eighth, GC added a single-run on a rbi single by Sean Richardson that generated the final score 3-13. 

For the game, IC was led in hits by Barker with three as Bartletti drove in two. On the mound, McGuire dealt 4.1 innings and struck of six batters. In addition to McGuire, the Blueboys used a total of six pitchers as Wieneke recorded the other strikeout of the game. 

The Blueboys will close out this MWC series tomorrow, Sunday, May 5 with a double-header starting at 11:00 AM in Grinnell, Iowa.