Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 Monmouth and Grinnell opened the Midwest Conference season with a pitcher's duel Thursday at Glasgow Field as the Pioneers took the twinbill 1-0, 7-4.
 
The Scots' Austin Hardy and the Pioneers' Sam Tinkham put up zeros until the fourth in Game 1 when Grinnell touched Hardy for the game's only run. The Pioneers took advantage of a leadoff walk and moved the runner into scoring position with a sac bunt. After moving to third on a wild pitch, Grinnell plated the lone run on a sacrifice fly. Tinkham took it from there, holding the Scots hitless as Matt Inness broke up  the perfect game bid, reaching via a seventh inning error.
 
Monmouth banged out eight hits in Game 2 and scored single runs in the first three innings for a 3-0 lead in the nightcap as Jake Starkey reached and scored in his first two at-bats. Starter Tyler McDonald worked out of men-on jams in the first three innings before Grinnell broke the ice with a pair of fourth-inning runs.
 
Trailing 3-2 in the top of the seventh, the Pioneers picked up back-to-back hits to open the inning and erupted for five runs to take a 7-3 lead.
 
The Scots rallied in the ninth, putting two on with one out. Following a hit by Ryan Sparks and a walk to Starkey, Hardy drove in Sparks on a ground out to cut the margin to 7-4. Grant Myers followed with a base hit before Bryson Sheppard reached on a hit batsman to bring the winning run to the plate. The Pioneers held on with an game-ending strikeout.
 
The teams will meet again Saturday in Grinnell, Iowa.