East Peoria, Ill. - After having played their last three games on the road, the ICC baseball team (20-26, 14-12) returned to Thome Field on Saturday afternoon to start their MWAC series with Danville Area. A year ago, the Cougars scored eight or more runs in half their games against the Jaguars. This year, they're off to just as good a start in the series. ICC launched three home runs in the first game to pace a 10-2 victory before adding on two more solo shots in the day's finale, a 12-2 win.
GAME 1 - ICC COUGARS 10, DANVILLE AREA 2
After the Jaguars had stranded a runner in scoring position in the top of the first, the Cougar bats wasted no time making some noise.
Luke Doty singled and promptly swiped second base to move into scoring position. That was quickly followed by
Beau Durbin lining a single into the outfield to score Doty, and
Josh Heyder hitting the first home run of the day to put ICC ahead 3-0 with still one out recorded in the inning.
Kaleb Gauf joined the party with a solo home run of his own to give
Nick Hainline quite the cushion after just one inning of play. Frankly, as it would turn out, that's all Hainline would need.
Danville Area had another golden scoring opportunity squandered in the second when, after a pair of singles and a hit by pitch loaded the bases, Hainline froze the last Jaguar batter of the inning to strand the three Danville runners and hold the 4-0 lead.
Once a brief detour of a 1-2-3 inning per side had completed, the offense ramped right back up. The Cougars were displaying quality plate discipline, with Heyder and
Jackson Powell both drawing walks to put two on for Gauf who would send his second home run of the game over the left field fence for a 7-0 lead.
The Jaguars would tally their first run of the game in the fifth on an RBI single, but that was soon followed by the single being part of a double play turned between Hainline, Durbin, and
Tyler Bishop, snuffing any further potential runs. Danville would have a three-hit sixth inning that included their final run of the game.
ICC had one last big inning in them in the sixth. After the Jaguars had made a pitching change, the Cougars seemed to have no problem, at least initially, with the new arm.
Camden Porter and
Zach Otten both drew walks before Durbin clubbed a hard single into center field to score Porter. After Heyder drew yet another ICC walk,
Zach Otten scored on an error. With the bases loaded for Gauf, a third home run would not ensue, but a RBI hit by pitch isn't a bad alternative. The hit by pitch scored Durbin and set the 10-2 final score.
On in relief in the seventh,
Kaiden Rixner shut the door with a pair of strikeouts and a flyout to
Matt Evans for the final out of game one.
GAME 2 - ICC COUGARS 12, DANVILLE AREA 2
As impressive as the first game's hitting was, the brakes were certainly not hit in game two, either.
After both teams went scoreless in the first inning (plus Danville in the second), the first big inning came for the Cougars.
Jackson Powell led off the frame with a hit by pitch, and as is the case more often than not - fortune favors the leadoff baserunner. Such it was, as after
Kaleb Gauf drew a walk,
Riley McCallister doubled to score Powell. The big hit of the inning came after
Zach Otten drew another walk, bringing
Luke Doty to the plate. Doty would find paydirt on an liner out towards center field, scoring Gauf, McCallister, and Otten to put the Cougars up 4-0 and once again give their starter, this time
Gage Burdick, all the cushion he would need.
Blink, and you may have missed the bottom of the third. In fact, four batters into the frame, it had already gone from 4-0 to 8-0.
Josh Heyder started it all off by reaching on an error and advancing to second on the same play. Powell would single. Gauf would hit his third home run of the day (first of the game) to score Heyder and Powell and take a 7-0 lead. The 8-0 lead, well that didn't take much longer.
Tyler Bishop made it back-to-back home runs by way of a solo shot.
After Otten and Doty both singled, it forced the Jaguars into a mid-inning pitching change, which was greeted with a
Beau Durbin triple to clear the bases and cap a stellar six-run, 10-batter inning and have ICC ahead 10-0.
Danville Area scored both of their runs in the fourth inning on a solo home run and an error to make it 10-2 at the time.
The Cougars got into run-rule territory when
Tyler Bishop doubled to score Gauf, followed by Bishop scoring on a wild pitch to set the 12-2 final score after four innings.
Gage Budrick would throw a complete game in the five innings played, closing it out with three straight outs after a leadoff walk.
Of note, the 12-run offensive barrage was so much so, it fell just one run shy of the most runs scored by the Cougars at home this season and is tied for the third-most runs in a game this season (overall).
WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
Perhaps as exciting as the 22 runs in two games was for the Cougars, as is the case with an MWAC series, there's no turnaround time. ICC will make the return trip to Danville Area tomorrow afternoon to complete the series with another doubleheader. The first game is set to get going at approximately 1PM from Danville Stadium.
