Box Score Mattoon, Ill. - Mother Nature was not exactly kind to ICC baseball (5-12) on Thursday. For one, the first pitch time was moved up to take place over the hour in hopes of beating out potential weather at the Laker Baseball Field as the Cougars battled Lake Land. Also, the game was moved from East Peoria to Mattoon. The good news - ICC opened up a 4-0 lead after an inning and a half that would, by game's end, be enough for a victory. The bad news - the weather thwarted the game finishing its full innings, and the game was declared official and final with ICC winning 5-3 in five innings. 

Zach Otten got the game going by drawing a walk, usually a good omen, and would also advance all the way to third base on an error. A Camden Porter single, Kaleb Gauf hit by pitch, and Tyler Hansen walk all happened in consecutive plate appearances and put the Cougars up 3-0 with just one out on the board. 

After a scoreless first frame from Nick Hainline on the mound, ICC expanded the lead to 4-0 on an RBI groundout from Jackson Powell, scoring Beau Durbin. 

Lake Land would get on the board with an RBI single in the second, and the Cougars would go 1-2-3 in the third. Hainline, however, did throw another scoreless frame on the third. The Cougars would score their final run of the game on an RBI double from Powell, scoring Josh Heyder. 

The Lakers would make it interesting in what ultimately became the game's last official inning. One run would score on an error - the next batter - on a fielder's choice. ICC shut the door, with a Hainline strikeout, and Lake Land grounding out to Durbin. 

Now, more baseball had been played beyond this point, but the inning was not completed. As a result, the game is reverted back to the last completed inning. Thankfully for the Cougars, perhaps, they would've won either way, as they held an unofficial 7-5 sixth-inning lead when the game was called. 

Hitting:
Josh Heyder | 3 hits
Jackson Powell | 1 hit, 2 RBI
Camden Porter | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Kaleb Gauf | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Tyler Hansen | 1 walk, 1 RBI
Beau Durbin | 2 walks

Pitching:
Nick Hainline | 5 innings, 4 strikeouts

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Carl Sandburg Chargers
Wednesday, March 22nd - 3:00 PM
@ Bill Hungate Complex - Galesburg, Ill.
Live Stats (GameChanger)