East Peoria, Ill. - Preventing a late comeback and a late surge to take control. Monday's doubleheader had a little bit of everything for ICC baseball (12-14), who found themselves trying to salvage their MWAC series with Lewis & Clark after being swept on the road on Sunday. That's just what they would do, ultimately. A four-run sixth inning outburst by the Trailblazers wasn't enough in the opener (ICC 7-6) and ICC went from leading by a mere 2-1 to ending the game with eight unanswered runs for a 10-1 win in the finale. It concluded the series with a 2-2 split and moved the Cougars to an early (6-2) mark in conference play.
GAME 1 - ICC COUGARS 7, LEWIS & CLARK 6
After both teams got their feet wet in the first inning with a scoreless frame apiece, ICC would be the first to the scoreboard in the bottom of the second.
Riley McCallister led the inning off with a solo homer. The lead grew to 3-0 after two by way of
Tyler Bishop scoring on an error and
Zach Otten lining an RBI single into the outfield to score
Luke Doty.
The game got even more interesting when Lewis & Clark started chipping away, scoring one run each in the fourth and fifth innings to pull within a 3-2 score. While 'small ball' is more often associated with bunts, it can be noted that singles were a large part of how the Cougars won the opening game. An RBI as such from
Hunter Thornton and a two-run single from Bishop swelled the lead to 6-2. The spread, while maybe not putting the game out of reach, certainly presented itself as a significant cushion for ICC.
That cushion nearly got deflated. The Trailblazers had the aforementioned four-run sixth on a single, fielder's choice, and error. That tied the game up at 6-6, forcing ICC to walk off to get the win. Any further attempt to score by Lewis & Clark would be thwarted by
Kannon Kelly on the mound and the defense behind him, with the Trailblazers flying out twice and grounding out once to leave the door open.
Luke Doty legged out a bunt single, then promptly stole second and advanced to third on an error. One base away. That's when
Beau Durbin got an RBI infield single to score Doty and give the Cougars a game one victory.
Hitting:
Tyler Bishop | 3 hits, 2 RBI
Beau Durbin | 2 hits, 1 RBI
Luke Doty | 2 hits, 1 walk
Zach Otten | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Riley McCallister | 1 home run, 1 RBI
Hunter Thornton | 1 hit, 1 RBI
Josh Heyder | 1 hit, 1 walk
Jackson Powell | 2 walks
Pitching:
Carson Johnson | 5 innings, 0 walks, 4 strikeouts
Kannon Kelly | 2 innings, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks
GAME 2 - ICC COUGARS 10, LEWIS & CLARK 1
The finale of the day looks like a comfortable win for the Cougars, and in all reality, it was. It didn't look like it would develop that way at first, though. A
Josh Heyder RBI single gave ICC a 1-0 lead after one. The Trailblazers tied it up in the second, before ICC answered right back with a
Beau Durbin RBI single to make it 2-1 Cougars.
There the score sat for the fourth inning and the top of the fifth - looking like the game was headed to an exciting finish. It was then that the Cougars would pull a 'Lewis & Clark' of sorts. After
Jake Jacek shut down the Trailblazers 1-2-3 in the top half of the fifth, the ICC bats came alive. On consecutive plate appearances,
Beau Durbin (RBI double),
Josh Heyder (RBI double), and
Jackson Powell (RBI single) all batted runners in to go up 5-1. Alas, ICC wasn't quite done just yet.
Hunter Thornton found open field on a ground ball that became an RBI single, scoring
Kaleb Gauf and going up 7-1.
The opener featured a quality late push from the opposition. This one did not. The Cougars kept their collective foot on the gas, when
Zach Otten (RBI single),
Beau Durbin (RBI double), and
Jackson Powell (fielder's choice, scoring Durbin) were part of a three-run sixth to set the 10-1 final score. By the end of that inning, it had been eight runs unanswered.
Hitting:
Beau Durbin | 4 hits, 3 RBI
Josh Heyder | 2 hits, 2 RBI, 1 walk
Zach Otten | 2 hits, 1 RBI, 1 walk
Jackson Powell | 1 hit, 2 RBI
Hunter Thornton | 1 hit, 2 RBI
Luke Doty | 2 hits, 1 walk
Kaleb Gauf | 2 walks
Tyler Bishop | 2 walks
Pitching:
Jake Jacek | 7 innings, 2 hits, 0 walks, 6 strikeouts
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Lincoln Land Loggers
Friday, April 7th - 1 PM & 4 PM
@ Claude Kracik Field - Springfield, Ill.
Live Stats (GAME 1)
Live Stats (GAME 2)
