Carterville, Ill. - Five days after a doubleheader against John A. Logan, ICC baseball (4-11) was right back at Volunteer Field on Thursday. This time, however, they were taking on the 20th-ranked Cavaliers of Kankakee. The Cougars were able to put five runs up on the board over the course of the day, but were unable to come out on top in either, with the Cavaliers taking both.
GAME 1 - #20 KANKAKEE 3, ICC COUGARS 2
The opener started with a pitchers duel. Through four and a half innings, just a run-scoring balk that put Kankakee ahead 1-0 in the second inning was all that was on the scoreboard.
Kankakee would also push two more runs across in the fifth and sixth innings, using an RBI double and solo home run to get to that 3-0 lead.
Alas, with just three outs to work with, back came the Cougars.
Camden Porter drawing a walk and
Kaleb Gauf singling put the game-tying run at the plate in the seventh. A groundout, however, gave ICC that situation with two outs.
Matt Evans would draw a walk to load the bases. That opened the door for
Zach Otten, who lined a two-run single into center field, scoring both Porter and Gauf.
At that point, Kankakee would make a pitching change to try and close things out. That, ultimately, is exactly what happened. A flyout ended the first game of the twinbill and gave the Cavaliers a one-run victory.
Hitting:
Zach Otten | 1 hit, 2 RBI
Kaleb Gauf | 1 hit
Beau Durbin | 1 hit
Pitching:
Kaiser Quick | 5 innings, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Aiden Leemans | 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 strikeout
GAME 2 - #20 KANKAKEE 8, ICC COUGARS 3
The nightcap looked as if it was headed down the exact same path as the preceding game. With home and away switched from the first game, Kankakee launched a solo homer just three batters into the game for a 1-0 lead. A passed ball and bases-loaded walk put the Cavaliers ahead 3-0 in the fifth, just like game one.
ICC would get on the board with an RBI single from
Jackson Powell to score
Clayton Shirley.
After
Ian McGhiey held Kankakee scoreless in the sixth, the Cougars would get back within a run on another big plate appearance from
Zach Otten, reaching on a fielder's choice that scored
Kaleb Gauf and made it a very manageable 3-2 game.
Then the Cavalier bats exploded. A triple and a walk started the seventh. It looked as if ICC would need just a run to tie and two to win. A pair of strikeouts put the Cougars one out from sending it to the bottom of the seventh. A wild pitch scored one run and put two runners in scoring position. Another two wild pitches scored the next two runs and made it 6-2. A third wild pitch made it 7-2. The lone earned run of the inning scored on an RBI single to put the Cavaliers ahead 8-2 headed to the bottom of the seventh.
ICC was not going down without a fight. A
Josh Heyder RBI single in the bottom half set the 8-3 final score.
Hitting:
Kaleb Gauf | 2 hits
Josh Heyder | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Jackson Powell | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Zach Otten | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Pitching:
Gavin Thompson | 4.2 innings, 6 strikeouts
Ian McGhiey | 2 innings, 1 hit, 3 strikeouts
Kaiden Rixner | 0.1 innings, 1 strikeout
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
#20 Kankakee Cavaliers
Friday, March 10th - 11:00 AM
@ Volunteer Field - Carterville, Ill.
LIVE STATS (GameChanger)
