The Monmouth College baseball team set up a win-and-in scenario on Sunday as they split two games with Lawrence on Saturday. The Fighting Scots (15-21, 10-10) won the opening game 7-6 before falling 5-3 in game two. With Cornell being swept on Saturday, the Scots control their fate on Sunday and will make the MWC Tournament with a win over Lawrence but will be eliminated with a loss. The Vikings also must win, but they also need a Cornell home loss to Beloit while the Rams make it with a win and a Monmouth loss.
GAME ONE
Neither team had a base runner in the first and Lawrence threatened against
Roy Ralston (Macon, Illinois) in the second. They loaded the bases but a pop up kept the game scoreless.
Hunter Wheat (Athens, Illinois) led off the Scots third with a walk and with one down,
Aidan Parkins (Monmouth, Illinois) singled. However, a double play ended the inning and Monmouth hit into another double play in the fourth. The Vikings took the lead in the fourth with a double and a single.
Down 1-0, the Scots got the bats going in the sixth.
Gabriel Zeigler-Harris (East Peoria, Illinois) walked, Parkins and
Aiden Scott (Carrollton, Texas) were both hit by pitches and a double play scored a run to tie the game.
Jace Wilkerson (East Peoria, Illinois) was hit by a pitch and
Eric Campen (Washington, Illinois) gave Monmouth a 3-1 lead with a double.
The lead was short-lived as Lawrence drew a walk in the bottom of the inning and tied the game on a 3-run homer.
Dane Keeven (Edwardsville, Illinois) took over for Ralston and a solo homer put the Vikings up 4-3.
Zach Almaguer (Monmouth, Illinois) led off the seventh with a walk and singles by Wheat and Zeigler-Harris loaded the bases. Parkins delivered a 2-run double for a 5-4 lead and he scored on a single by
Clayton Matkovic (Sherrard, Illinois) to put the Scots up two.
The first two Lawrence batters in the seventh doubled as they pulled within one. After a 1-out walk,
Will Baumgartner (Sycamore, Illinois) came out of the bullpen and got a pop up for the second out. The Vikings tied the game on a double but left two in scoring position.
Zeigler-Harris led off the ninth with a double and he moved to third on a pickoff error. With one out, Scott gave Monmouth a 7-6 lead with a single.
Owen Wolfe (Galesburg, Illinois) took over on the mound in the bottom of the ninth. A groundout back to him started the inning. Another groundout and a lineout preserved the 7-6 Monmouth win.
Baumgartner (2-2) got the win in relief with 1 2/3 shutout inning as he allowed two hits and struck out one. Ralston took a no-decision as the started with three runs allowed on four hits. He struck out seven and walked five in 5 1/3 innings. Keeven allowed three runs on three hits in one inning while walking one and striking out one. Wolfe retired all three batters he faced for his second save.
GAME TWO
Matkovic, Wilkerston and Campen all walked with two outs in the first but the Scots left the bases loaded. Lawrence took advantage of a leadoff walk from
Ethan Zaayenga (Tremont, Illinois) in the third. A bunt single and another walk loaded the bases and the Vikings scored on a groundout and a single to take a 3-0 lead.
Parkins singled with one out in the fifth and Scott hit his second homer of the season to cut the LU lead to 3-2. Lawrence got one back in the fifth with a single, double and ground out and they made it 5-2 in the seventh with a single, stolen base and 2-out infield single.
Wilkerson led off the eighth with a double and after a pitching change, Campen singled to put runners on the corners. With one out, Almaguer doubled to right to drive home Wilkerson. With the tying run at second, Lawrence got out of the inning with a strikeout and fly out.
In the ninth, Scott walked with one out to bring the tying run to the plate. The Vikings secured the win with a fly out and strike out.
Zaayenga (3-6) took the loss as he allowed five runs on 12 hits and two walks while striking out two over seven innings.
Clayton Rentschler (Riverton, Illinois) threw a shutout eighth inning and allowed one hit while striking out one.
MONMOUTH MOMENTS: Parkins, Matkovic,
Jacob Blunck (Forsyth, Illinois) and Zeigler-Harris all had two hits in game one while Parkins and Campen had two RBI…Zeigler-Harris scored three runs in the opener…Monmouth had four doubles in game one and two in game two…Scott had two RBI in game two with his second homer of the season…Campen and Almaguer had two hits in game two…With his seventh career save, Wolfe moved into a tie with Scott Coles and Ridge Greenman for fourth on the career list…He also became the ninth pitcher in school history with at least 40 career outings…Matkovic moved into seventh on the career list with 494 at-bats and 12th on the career hits list…Ralston moved past both Connor McDonald and Mike Simkins to take seventh place on the career strikeouts list…He also moved into the top 10 on the single-season strikeout list with 76…The Scots are 16-10 all-time against Lawrence including a 3-1 mark last season…The teams last played a regular season series in Appleton in 2023 as Monmouth won two of three…The teams play a single game at Noon on Sunday…The Scots clinch the fourth MWC Tournament spot with a win and cannot make the tournament with a loss.
