The Monmouth College baseball team set a single-game record for hits (29) and a school record for most runs (48) in a double header as they out slugged first-place Grinnell 25-10 and 23-9 on Saturday. The Fighting Scots (13-19, 9-8) moved into fourth place in the Midwest Conference with 44 hits on the day, including five home runs, as they run-ruled the Pioneers in both games.
GAME ONE
Grinnell got on the board in the top of the first as the first four batters reached and scored against
Roy Ralston (Macon, Illinois). The leadoff batter was hit by a pitch and stole second before a walk and double made it 1-0. The Pioneers hit their MWC-leading 23rd home run in a conference game for a 4-0 lead.
The Scots got the bats going right away as
Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) led off with a single and went to third on a single by
Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas).
Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) beat out an infield single for a RBI and
Jace Wilkerson (East Peoria, Illinois) was hit by a pitch.
Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) doubled home two runs and
Jacob Blunck (Forsyth, Illinois) made it 5-4 with a single.
Zach Almaguer (Monmouth, Illinois) singled to right and after Grinnell finally got an out,
Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) brought home two runs with a single. Parkins singled again as did Scott to load the bases. Matkovic put the Scots on top 11-4 with a grand slam, his second homer of the season. After a Pioneers pitching change. Wilkerson singled, Campen doubled and Blunck made it 13-4 with a double to left-center.
Parkins reached on an error to start the second and he stole second. Parkins moved to third on a wild pitch as Scott walked. With two outs, Parkins scored on a wild pitch for a 14-4 lead.
With one out in the third, Almaguer and Wheat singled. Zeigler-Harris beat out a bunt to load the bases and a wild pitch scored Almaguer. Parkins made it 16-4 with a single and Scott added a run with a base hit. With two down, WIlkerson put the Scots on top 18-4 with a single to right-center.
Grinnell scored twice in the fourth with one run unearned. They closed the gap to 18-8 with a 2-run homer off reliever
Owen Alford (Hopedale, Illinois) in the fifth.
The Scots pushed the lead to 19-8 on a solo home run by
Jace Wilkerson with one out in the fifth. The homer, his ninth of the season, sailed past the scoreboard in right-center. Blunck and Almaguer both singled but were left on base to end the inning.
Grinnell got another home run in the sixth to pull within nine at 19-10. Zeigler-Harris led off the sixth with his first career home run to push the lead back to 10. Parkins singled, his fourth hit of the game, and Scott doubled. With one out, Wilkerson singled home two and Blunck doubled. With two outs, Almaguer launched his first career home run for a 25-10 lead
Ralston (2-5) picked up the win with five earned runs allowed on five hits over four innings as he struck out seven. Alford allowed four runs on six hits over 1 2/3 innings.
Will Baumgartner (Sycamore, Illinois) finished off the game with 1 1/3 shutout innings and one hit allowed.
GAME TWO
The Scots kept the momentum going early in game two as Parkins led off the bottom of the first with a walk. Scott tripled for a 1-0 lead and two batters later, Wilkerson launched his 10th homer of the season for a 3-0 lead. Blunck singled with two outs and Almaguer hit his second homer of the day for a 5-0 lead.
Ethan Zaayenga (Tremont, Illinois) gave up a run in the second on a bases loaded walk but got a strikeout to leave three on. With one out in the second, Parkins doubled and scored on a single by Scott. Matkovic walked and with two down, both runners scored on a triple by Campen for an 8-1 lead.
Monmouth added on in the third. Wheat walked with one out as did Zeigler-Harris. Parkins singled to load the bases and Scott made it 9-1 with a sacrifice fly, reaching when the ball was dropped in right field. Matkovic walked and Wilkerson singled home two runs for an 12-1 lead. Blunck's RBI made it 12-1 and Almaguer doubled home a run. Wheat singled home two and Parkins made it a 9-run inning and a 17-1 lead with a single to right.
The Scots plated four more in the fourth. Blunck walked with the bases loaded as did Almaguer, forcing in Matkovic and Wilkerson. A wild pitch made it 20-1 and a throwing error added two more runs.
Grinnell hit a 3-run homer in the fifth and finally kept the Scots off the board for an inning. The Pioneers cut into the lead in the sixth with back-to-back homers off
Weslee Frame (Fairview, Illinois). After a walk,
Blake Sierens (Sherrard, Illinois) came in and gave up a single before getting out of the inning with the Scots up 22-8.
Wheat hit his first career homer in the bottom of the sixth, Monmouth's fifth long ball of the day. The Pioneers plated the final run of the game on a balk in the top of the seventh before Sierens got the last out.
Zaayenga (3-5) picked up the win as he allowed four runs on four hits and four walks over 4 2/3 innings while striking out five. Frame allowed four runs on two hits over 2/3 of an inning with two walks and two homers allowed. Sierens allowed one run on one hit and one walk over 1 2/3 inning with three strikeouts.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Monmouth sent 18 batters to the plate in the first inning of game one with 13 runs scored, three away from the single-inning record…Parkins picked up his 100th career hit in the first inning of game one…All nine starters scored in a run in both games….Parkins, Scott, Matkovic, Wilkerson, Campen, Blunk, Almaguer and Wheat had hits in both games…Parkins had seven hits on the day while Scott, Almaguer and Wilkerson each had six…Parkins, Scott and Wilkerson each scored seven runs…Wilkerson had eight RBI on the day while Almaguer had seven, Blunck had six and Matkovic had five…Almaguer and Wilkerson homered in both games…Almaguer, Zeigler-Harris and Wheat each hit their first career home runs…Wilkerson has 10 homers on the season, one off the single-season record…The 48 runs in a double header breaks the record of 44 the Scots scored in a sweep of Cornell on April 24, 1982…The 29 hits breaks the single-game record of 24, done three times…The 25 runs in game one is the most since the Scots scored 27 against Cornell on April 24, 1982…The single-game record is 29 from 1950 against Eureka…With his 28th career start, Zaayenga is now in the Monmouth career top 10…Ralston set a new career high for innings pitched…Matkovic has 200 career total bases and he moved into the top 10 in MC history in games played…Parkins is tied for 10th most career stolen bases in Monmouth history…Wilkerson is tied for eighth on the single-season RBI list…Monmouth leads the all-time series 147-69 and have won the season series two years in a row…The teams play at Noon on Sunday.
