Sangamon Sun

Illinois College's baseball team faced a challenging Midwest Conference series opener against the University of Chicago on Friday afternoon at Joe Brooks Field in Jacksonville, Illinois. The Blueboys were defeated by the Maroons with a final score of 4-13.

Branson Shaw started on the mound for Illinois College and managed to escape a first-inning jam by striking out Jonathan Zeevi. He followed up with another scoreless inning in the second. In their half of the second inning, Connor Hennemann initiated an offensive push with a lead-off single, followed by Jon Tate's single that advanced him to second base. Tyler Barker drew a walk, loading the bases for Illinois College. Logan Schweigert then grounded out but brought Hennemann home, giving IC an early 1-0 lead. Ryan Huskey extended this lead to 2-0 with a sacrifice fly that scored Tate.

The third inning saw Chicago take control with an eight-run rally, including three home runs, changing the scoreboard to 2-8 in favor of the Maroons.

Adam Passmore began Illinois College's third inning with a single and was moved to second by Louie Bartletti's sacrifice bunt. Nolan Decker appeared to hit a home run over center field; however, after review due to Braden Jirovec’s catch attempt above the wall, it was ruled as an RBI ground-rule double scoring Passmore and narrowing the gap to 3-8. Barker further reduced Chicago's lead with an RBI single that brought Decker home.

In subsequent innings, Chicago added two more runs in the fourth through Zeevi’s RBI single and Brian Cordero’s sacrifice flyout, making it 4-10. Andrew Wieneke came in as relief pitcher for IC during the fifth inning and prevented any further runs or hits.

Chicago continued their momentum into later innings: Brady Miller contributed a sixth-inning sacrifice fly (4-11), while two additional runs in the seventh increased their advantage to 4-13 before Anthony Buonaura replaced Wieneke on IC’s pitching roster. Buonaura successfully ended Chicago’s threat via Decker’s double play at third base.

Neither team scored during each remaining inning—securing Chicago's victory at 4-13 overall—with Hennemann leading IC offensively tallying three hits alongside four separate players achieving one RBI apiece throughout gameplay efforts such as Shaw pitching four innings recording five strikeouts while both Wieneke & Buonaura combined provided solid bullpen support totaling over two-plus innings worked together including three strikeouts from Wieneke alone specifically contributing towards keeping competitive spirit alive until game end whistle sounded ultimately signaling defeat yet determination moving forward onto concluding Saturday double-header matchup commencing noon time slot back again located within hometown Jacksonville setting itself respectively soon thereafter onwards onward accordingly per schedule announced previously already established beforehand now ahead upcoming days ahead coming up next thereafter afterward following immediately following promptly proceeding 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