Sangamon Sun

The Illinois College baseball team faced Grinnell College in a Midwest Conference game on Saturday afternoon. The Blueboys struggled against the Pioneers, ending the game with a 3-13 loss.

Jack McGuire made his eleventh start of the season for Illinois College but encountered difficulties early on. In the first inning, Grinnell scored first with a fielder's choice groundout at Connor Hennemann, bringing the score to 0-1.

In the second inning, Tyler Barker hit an infield single and advanced to second base after a sacrifice bunt by Hennemann. Following an error that allowed Logan Schweigert to reach base, Jon Tate hit a single to load the bases. However, Illinois College was unable to score any runs, keeping the score at 0-1.

Grinnell extended their lead in the third inning with Ethan Crawford hitting a two-run home run, making it 0-3. In response, Barker started off the fourth inning with a double and later scored due to Tate's RBI single, reducing the deficit to 1-3.

Illinois College switched pitchers in the fifth inning as Andrew Wieneke took over from McGuire. Despite this change, Grinnell increased their lead with Ben Kelly's three-run home run, bringing the score to 1-6. The Pioneers added another run in the sixth inning for a 1-7 lead.

In the seventh inning, Ryne Mapes and Adam Passmore each hit singles for Illinois College. Louie Bartletti then doubled down the right field line, driving in Mapes and Passmore for his 50th and 51st RBIs of the season and narrowing Grinnell's lead to 3-7.

However, Grinnell responded strongly in their half of the seventh inning with five runs from two hits extending their advantage to 3-12. Sean Richardson added another run for Grinnell in the eighth inning with an RBI single that finalized their victory at 3-13.

Barker led Illinois College offensively with three hits while Bartletti contributed two RBIs. On defense, McGuire pitched for 4.1 innings striking out six batters before being relieved by Wieneke who recorded one strikeout during his time on mound.

The Blueboys are set to conclude this Midwest Conference series against Grinnell on Sunday with a double-header starting at 11:00 AM in Grinnell, Iowa.