The Monmouth College baseball team allowed a season-high five homers and 17 runs in a 17-9 loss at Illinois College on Wednesday. The Fighting Scots (10-17, 6-6) led two different times before IC took the lead for good on back-to-back-to-back home runs. 

Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) walked with one out in the first and moved up on a wild pitch. Jace Wilkerson (East Peoria, Illinois) walked and Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Jacob Blunck (Forsyth, Illinois) walked to force in a run and Zach Almaguer (Monmouth, Illinois) made it 2-0 with a single. Campen was thrown out at the plate on the Almaguer single to end the inning. 

Wilkerson pulled double-duty as the starting pitcher and he allowed one run in the first on a leadoff double and 1-out single. A double play ended the inning with the Scots up 2-1. 

Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) singled with one out in the second and Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) walked. With two down, Wilkerson launched his seventh homer of the season for a 5-1 lead. It is his second 3-run homer against IC, both in games he was also the starting pitcher. 

The Blueboys plated two unearned runs in the second after an error extended the inning. Leading 5-3, Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) led off the third with a double and moved up on a passed ball. Blunck made it 6-3 with a RBI single before IC retired three in a row to get out of the inning. 

Another 2-out Monmouth error on the infield opened the doors for IC in the bottom of the third. Instead of being out of the inning, a run scored on the error and two more singles tied the game 6-6. Will Baumgartner (Sycamore, Illinois) took over on the mound and got out of the inning with a pop up. 

Parkins led off the fourth with an infield single and he stole second. After moving to third on a grounder, Parkins scored on a groundout by Wilkerson for a 7-6 Monmouth lead. 

After a fourth Monmouth error, IC hit a 2-run homer to lead 8-7 in the fourth. They went back-to-back on the next pitch to lead 9-7. Another homer came on the next pitch for three homers in a row on three pitches. With a runner on first, Clayton Rentschler (Riverton, Illinois) took over on the mound and struck out two in a row to end the inning. 

Down 10-7 in the sixth, Parkins led off with a single and stole second. Matkovic walked and Wilkerson singled to bring home a run. Wilkerson was thrown out at second on the play before Campen singled to bring home Matkovic for a 10-9 game. 

IC hit their fourth homer of the game, a solo shot with one out in the sixth, off reliever Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois). The Scots lost a runner at the plate in the seventh after Almaguer doubled and IC made it 12-9 with three straight singles in the bottom of the inning. After a hit batter loaded the bases, IC brought in two more with a double. A sac fly and another homer made it 17-9 before the Scots got out of the inning. Monmouth didn't score in their final two innings. 

Wilkerson allowed one earned run and eight hits over 2 2/3 innings as he walked two and struck out one. Baumgartner (1-2) took the loss as he allowed four runs on four hits, three homers and a walk in 2/3 of an inning. Rentschler allowed one hit and walked one while striking out three in 1 1/3 hitless and shutout innings. Wolfe allowed seven runs on six hits in 1 1/3 innings with a strikeout. Blake Sierens (Sherrard, Illinois) threw a shutout inning with a strikeout and a walk. 

MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Parkins now has 12 multi-hit games…Wilkerson homered as the starting pitcher for the second straight time and finished with five RBI…He has eight multi-hit games and eight multi-RBI games…In three games against IC Wilkerson was 8-for-14 with three homers, five runs scored and 12 RBI…Almaguer has five straight mult-hit games and he is 13-for-25 in that span with three doubles and four RBI…He had two doubles on Wednesday…Parkins had two stolen bases for the second straight game…The Scots lead the all-time series 117-79 but have lost four straight in Jacksonville with a total of 53 runs allowed…The Scots return home for a Noon DH against Cornell on Saturday, April 18.