The Monmouth College baseball team lost both of their games to Norwich by one run on Tuesday at the Lawnwood Baseball Complex in Fort Pierce, Florida.

The Cadets scored six runs, all unearned, in the top of the first inning. A passed ball on strike three started the inning and after having a runner on first with two outs, Norwich got the next five on base with four hits and a walk. 

Monmouth got right back into the game over the next two innings. In the bottom of the first, Logan Komater (Ottawa, Illinois) singled with one out, moved up on a passed ball and stole third. With two down, Raul Guillermo III (Miami, Florida) singled to score Komater and Todd Fowler (Chatham, Illinois) doubled to make it 6-2. 

With one out in the second, Tyler Houck (Park Ridge, Illinois) reached on an error and Nate Melvin (Ottawa, Illinois) tripled to make it 6-3. Komater's infield single plated Melvin and cut the Cadets lead to two. Komater stole second and scored on a throwing error as Jack Kuethe (Pekin, Illinois) singled. Guillermo singled but the Scots left two runners on base, down 6-5. 

Norwich added a run in the fourth to go up 7-5. The Scots rallied in the fifth as Guillermo walked and Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) pinch ran. He moved to third on a pair of wild pitches as Fowler walked. The Scots cut the gap to 7-6 as Matkovic scored on a double play ball. The Scots loaded the bases in the sixth but made the final out of the inning at the plate and left a runner at first in the seventh. 

Jakob Brokaw (Andalusia, Illinois) took the loss despite not allowing an earned run. Nicholas Corman (Monmouth, Illinois) struck out five over four innings and Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) threw two perfect innings with three strikeouts. Melvin, Komater and Guillermo all had two hits in the opener. 

Game 2

Norwich grabbed the lead in game two with two runs in the third against freshman starting pitcher Cameron Anderson (Bloomington, Illinois). A walk started the inning and an error on a sac bunt put two on base and they both advanced on another sac bunt. A sac fly gave the Cadets a 1-0 lead and a single doubled the lead.

Norwich made it 3-0 in the fifth with a leadoff double and a single. Anderson worked into the sixth inning and finished with 10 strikeouts in his first career college start. He allowed just one earned run over 5 2/3 innings. Riley Jennings (Knoxville, Illinois) got the last out with a strikeout, as Monmouth struck out 11 Cadets in just six innings of pitching. 

The Scots got on the board in the sixth. Fowler led off with a single and Matkovic walked. Houck reached on a bunt single and Fowler scored on the throw to first. Down 3-1, the Scots loaded the bases on a walk to Daniel Lummus (New Port Richey, Florida) but left them full. 

Monmouth got another run in the seventh but the rally fell short. Komater reached on an error to start the inning and Guillermo singled to center. Fowler walked and Matkovic delivered a bases loaded sacrifice fly to make the score 3-2. An intentional walk to Houck loaded the bases with the tying run at third but a strikeout ended the game. 

Melvin and Komater had two hits again in the second game and Houck added a two-hit game as well. Monmouth has an off day for the varsity team on Wednesday while the JV team plays Thiel College at 2 p.m. ET. The Scots are back in action in Fort Pierce on Thursday with a 1 p.m. game against Wheaton College and a 4:30 p.m. game against Thiel College.