Normal, Ill. - After a tough 10-0 loss to #2 seed Lincoln Land in their opening game at the Region 24 Tourney on Wednesday, the #7 seeded Illinois Central College baseball team bounced back with a gritty 5-3 win over #6 Lewis and Clark to stay alive in the Region 24 Tournament in the nightcap at the Corn Crib.
Brody Reed and
Ben Nofsinger each had home runs in Game 2 and combined to account for all five RBIs while
Garrett Peterson and
Travis Lutz shared the pitching duties to help ICC advance. The Cougars will now play on Thursday, May 19 at 4pm against the loser of the 10 am Heartland/Danville game.
Game 2 Recap | ICC 5, Lewis & Clark 3
The top of the lineup provided immediate punch in the bottom of the first, using the first four pitches to take an all-important early 3-0 lead.
Coltin Quagliano led off with a single and then Reed sent the first pitch he saw over the right field fence to put ICC up 2-0.
Nofsinger did nearly the same, hitting his first pitch over the left field fence. His solo shot added to his record for home runs in a season, putting the slugger at 20 home runs.
The Trailblazers scratched a run in the top of the second but ICC responded in the bottom half as Quagliano hit a two-out single and was brought in by a Reed RBI double as ICC stayed in control at 4-1. Lewis and Clark added a run in the top of the third to make it 4-2.
In the fourth, Reed drew a walk and advanced to second on a wild pitch before scoring on a Nofsinger RBI single as ICC went up 5-2.
LCC scored a run in the top of the ninth to draw to within 5-3 but thanks to a sliding catch by centerfielder
Zach Otten and two strikeouts by Lutz, the Cougars shut the door and advanced to Thursday.
Peterson pitched seven innings, giving up three earned runs on nine hits to get the win. Lutz pitched two innings with three strikeouts for the save.
Leaders:
Coltin Quagliano 2-5, two runs scored
Brody Reed 3-4, 3 RBI, two runs scored, home run (6), double
Ben Nofsinger 2-5, 2 RBI, home run (20)
Travis Lutz 2-4
Josh Heyder 2-3
Game 1 Recap | Lincoln Land 10, ICC 0
Lincoln Land took control early, scoring six runs in the third inning and adding two runs each in the fourth and fifth innings to pick up the opening round win. ICC only collected three hits in five innings, highlighted by a
Travis Lutz double in the second.
Ben Nofsinger and
Brody Reed both added singles.
Bryce Brecklin took the loss, going 3 1/3 innings with three strikeouts.
Wednesday results:
Danville Area 6, Vincennes 3
Parkland 2, Lewis & Clark 1
Lincoln Land 10, Illinois Central 0
Illinois Central 5, Lewis & Clark 3
Thursday schedule:
10am: (1) Heartland vs. (4) Danville
1pm: (3) Parkland vs. (2) Lincoln Land
4pm: Loser of 10am game vs. (7) Illinois Central
7pm: (5) Vincennes vs. loser of Parkland/Lincoln Land
Next up: ICC will play next on Thursday, May 19 vs. the loser of the 10 am (1) Heartland vs. (4) Danville at the Corn Crib in Normal, IL.
The game will be shown live on Heartland Hawks' website at: https://heartlandhawks.com/watch/?Live=478&type=Live. Due to poor cell service at the Corn Crib, the ICC Gamechanger stats will not be available until after the game.
