The Monmouth College baseball team dropped a pair of games in Florida on Wednesday, against two different opponents. The Fighting Scots (3-9) lost 17-5 to Penn State Behrend in the morning game and fell 16-10 against Washington College in the afternoon. 

Freshman Sophia Broderick (Geneva, Illinois) made program history as the first female to play baseball for Monmouth when she pitched two innings in game one. Both Cade Farquer (Williamsfield, Illinois) and Logan Straube (Wheaton, Illinois) hit their first career home runs as multiple players made their 2026 debuts on Wednesday. 

GAME ONE

The Nittany Lions scored three times in the first off Heath Hornke (Normal, Illinois). A 1-out walked turned into a run on three straight stolen bases before a walk, double and 2-run single.

Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) led off with a walk and moved to third on a 1-out single by Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas). Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) brought home Parkins with a fielders' choice grounder to third.

Caleb Ochs (Royal, Illinois) took over in the second inning and kept the Lions off the board.  Zach Almaguer (Monmouth, Illinois) singled to start the second before Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) walked and Parkins was hit by a pitch. A wild pitch plated Almaguer but Monmouth left two in scoring position

The Lions put up three runs in the third after a leadoff walk. A single and double plated two and another single put PSU-B on top 6-2. The Scots got one back in the fifth as Campen singled, Scott reached on an error and Matkovic walked. Blunck drove in Campen with a sac fly but the Nittany Lions changed pitchers and got out of the inning.

Blake Sierens (Sherrard, Illinois) threw a scoreless fifth before running into trouble in the sixth. A hit batter and two walks loaded the bases and a single put the Lions up 8-3. Broderick entered the game for her college debut in the sixth inning, the first female to ever play baseball at Monmouth. After a walk and infield single plated two, Broderick recorded her first career strikeout. A sacrifice fly put the Lions up 11-3 and Broderick got out of the inning with a grounder to first. 

The Scots scored a pair in the sixth against the PSU-B bullpen. Almaguer led off with a double and Hunter Wheat (Athens, Illinois) walked. With one out, Almaguer scored on an error and Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois)  drove in Wheat with a RBI groundout. 

Broderick came back out for the eighth and left with the bases loaded after a single, double and walk and two of those runs eventually scored. Gianni Gallichio (Yorkville, Illinois) got a double play to get out of the inning with the Scots down 13-5. The Nittany Lions scored four in the ninth off Gallichio for the 17-5 final score. 

Hornke (0-1) took the loss as he allowed three runs on two hits and two walks in one inning. Ochs allowed three runs on four hits over four innings while striking out two. Sierens allowed five runs on one hit and three walks over one inning. Broderick allowed two runs on two hits and walked three in two innings of work while striking out two. Gallichio allowed four runs on three hits and two walks in two innings while striking out one. 

GAME TWO

After a half hour break, the Scots switched fields and went to work against Washington (Md.) College. Zeigler-Harris was hit by a pitch to start the game and with one out, Scott tripled to right-center for a 1-0 lead. The Shoremen scored three off starter Jace Wilkerson (East Peoria, Illinois) in the bottom of the first with two singles, a hit batter, a walk and a 2-run bloop to right. 

Down 4-1, Monmouth pulled even in the fourth. Matkovic singled up the middle and Wilkerson doubled off the wall in right-center. Farquer launched his first career homer, an opposite field shot, tying the game 4-4. 

Washington regained the lead in the bottom of the inning against reliever Owen Alford (Hopedale, Illinois) with a leadoff homer. They added an unearned run to lead 6-4. The Shoremen plated five more in the fifth after it appeared two of their runners passed each other on the basepaths but the play went uncalled. Two doubles later, the Scots trailed 11-4. 

Scott led off the seventh with a double and he scored on a single by Matkovic. After a pitching chance, Wilkerson walked and both runners scored on a single by Farquer. Straube ripped a 2-run homer to left-center, the first of his career, cutting the WC lead to 11-9.

The Shoremen responded in the bottom of the inning with three against Will Baumgartner (Sycamore, Illinois). Two walks and two singles loaded the bases and scored one while another single made it 14-9. Monmouth got one in the eighth as Campen doubled and later scored on a Scott groundout. Washington finished the scoring with back-to-back homers off freshman Tayln Poole (Spring Hill, Florida) in the ninth. 

In his first start, Wilkerson allowed four runs on five hits over 2 1/3 innings with two walks. Alford (0-1) took the loss as he allowed six earned runs on six hits and three walks over 2 1/3 innings. Baumgartner allowed three runs on three hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings and Poole gave up two runs on two hits in one inning. Baumgartner struck out three and Poole struck out one.

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Farquer and Straube hit their first career college home runs against Washington…Straube had a career-high three hits and two RBI…Farquer had a career-high five RBI…Campen, Matkovic and Farquer had two hits in game two while Straube and Scott had three…Scott also had two RBI with a double and a triple…He has 99 career hits…Wilkerson and Campen added doubles as the Scots posted a season-best six extra-base hits…Almaguer had two hits in game one, including his first double of the season…Sam Genslinger (Waterman, Illinois) made his Monmouth debut in the opener and picked up his first career hit in game two…Grant Vessey (Elma, Washington) had his first Monmouth hit in game one…Gallichio and Hornke both made their 2026 debuts on the mound in game one…Wilkerson pitched for the first time in a Monmouth uniform as he started game two and stayed in the game to DH…Poole made his college debut on the mound in game two…The series against PSU Behrend is tied 3-3…The Lions won 8-3 last year…Washington leads the series 3-1 against the Scots with Monmouth winning last year on the Florida trip…Monmouth faces No. 25 Gettysburg at 10:00 a.m. ET on Thursday…After nine games in Florida for spring break, the Scots play the home opener on Monday, March 16 against Maranatha Baptist.