Sangamon Sun

The Illinois College baseball team secured its first Midwest Conference win of the season by defeating Monmouth College 16-9 at Joe Brooks Field in Jacksonville, Illinois. This victory brought their overall record to 14-5 and marked a successful conclusion to their conference opening weekend.

Jacob Smith took the mound as the starting pitcher for Illinois College, delivering a scoreless first inning. The Blueboys quickly established an early lead with Ryne Mapes hitting a single, followed by Louie Bartletti's two-run home run. Jon Tate added to the lead with an RBI double, putting Illinois College ahead 3-0.

Monmouth responded in the second inning with Aidan Parkins' solo home run, but Illinois College restored their advantage when Logan Schweigert scored on Bartletti's RBI. The third inning saw both teams adding a run each, maintaining Illinois College's lead at 5-2.

Monmouth managed to pull closer in the fourth inning through Jacob Blunck's solo home run and then surged ahead in the fifth with four runs, taking an 8-5 lead. However, Illinois College narrowed the gap with Mapes' RBI single.

In the sixth inning, Charlie Lardi was called from the bullpen for Illinois College and managed to contain Monmouth despite allowing one more run. In response, Illinois College exploded for seven runs in their half of the inning, highlighted by Tate's grand slam that regained them the lead.

Bartletti continued his strong performance with another home run in the eighth inning. Further contributions from Connor Hennemann and Schweigert extended their advantage to 16-9.

Lardi closed out the game impressively by striking out all three batters he faced in the ninth inning and earning credit for the win. Overall, Mapes, Bartletti, and Schweigert led offensively with four hits each while Bartletti and Tate both recorded five RBIs.

Illinois College will next face off against the University of Chicago Maroons on March 29th in Jacksonville.