Harrisburg, Ill. - The Southern Illinois tour continued for ICC baseball (4-9) on Sunday afternoon, as the Cougars traveled to take on the Southeastern Illinois Falcons in a doubleheader. While the Cougars were unable to come out on top in the opener, they were able to snap their six-game losing streak in the finale.
GAME 1: SOUTHEASTERN ILLINOIS 6, ICC COUGARS 5
An early pitchers duel ensued in the first game, with the teams holding at 0-0 until ICC finally broke through in the fourth inning. An RBI single from
Kaleb Gauf scored
Jackson Powell. With one out and runners on the corners,
Tyler Bishop lined into a fielder's choice at the first base bag, the same play on which
Camden Porter hustled home and put the Cougars ahead 2-0.
The Falcons responded quickly, using a two-run triple and a wild pitch go take the lead at 3-2.
Back and forth this one looked like it was going. Powell marked the second run of the game via wild pitch (first for ICC) and tied it back up at 3-3.
Wanting to end it in 'regulation', the Falcons got the first three batters to reach in the bottom of the sixth via a single and pair of walks. That was followed up by a bases-loaded walk to take a 4-3 lead.
Meanwhile, with the hosts needing three outs for the win, ICC threatened.
Beau Durbin and
Luke Doty both singled before
Josh Heyder drew a five-pitch walk to load the bases. Odds are, at least one of those runs is scoring. Score, it did. Powell drew a walk on the next plate appearance to tie the game at four. Porter, a sac fly. 5-4 Cougars after seven. The bats came alive and forced the Falcons to need to walk off to win the game.
Well, they walked off. A leadoff single was followed by another, the latter of the two tying the game back up at 5-5. After a bunt put the game-winning run in scoring position, and the following batter struck out, it made for quite the intense final out. The Falcons grounded a walkoff single into open turf in right field, scoring that final run on an outfield error and taking the 6-5 win.
Hitting:
Jackson Powell | 1 hit, 1 RBI, 3 walks
Camden Porter | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Kaleb Gauf | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Pitching:
Gage Burdick | 4 innings, 0 earned runs, 2 hits, 4 strikeouts
Ian McGhiey | 1 inning, 1 strikeout
Kaiser Quick | 1.2 innings, 1 earned run, 3 strikeouts
GAME 2: ICC COUGARS 5, SOUTHEASTERN ILLINOIS 1
The opener was a close loss - the Cougars were right there. Perhaps a game of that nature provided the right amount of motivation and put the Cougars in a good head space for the final game of the day. Alas, another pitchers duel got underway.
Neither the Falcons nor the Cougars could find the scoreboard until the fifth inning. ICC finally got on the board with an RBI single from
Beau Durbin (scoring
Luke Doty) and
Josh Heyder reaching on an error (scoring Durbin). Turns out, those two runs would be enough to win the game, but of course, you'd want to build a cushion for your pitching staff, in this case,
Carson Johnson.
Doty drew a bases-loaded four-pitch walk to go up 3-0 and Durbin had a two-run single to go up 5-0.
The Falcons were able to push a run across in the midst of a bottom of the seventh walkoff effort, but it was to no avail. ICC would come away with the 5-1 win.
Hitting:
Beau Durbin | 3 hits, 3 RBI, 1 walk
Luke Doty | 2 hits, 1 RBI, 1 walk
Kaleb Gauf | 2 hits
Pitching:
Carson Johnson | 7 innings, 5 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 10 strikeouts
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
#20 Kankakee Cavaliers
Thursday, March 9th - 1 PM & 4 PM
@ Volunteer Field - Carterville, Ill.
Live Stats (GameChanger)
