Millington, Tenn. - It was the start of 'round two' of the trip down south for the Illinois Central College baseball team (4-8), as the Cougars played a familiar foe in Southeastern Iowa down at the USA Baseball Stadium, which in the past has hosted the D2 JUCO World Series as well as been the Olympic Training Grounds for USA Baseball. Nontheless, the offense may have been of Olympic proportions, with the two teams combining for 35 runs over the course of the doubleheader. However, neither was able to go in ICC's direction, with the Cougars dropping games of 10-8 and 11-6 scores, respectively. 

GAME 1 | SOUTHEASTERN IOWA 10, ICC COUGARS 8
The Cougars raced out to a 4-0 lead through three innings, using plays like a Kyle Mack RBI single, Luke Doty RBI groundout, and Mack RBI single to score the first three runs of that stretch. Then, on the first pitch of the third inning, after the Blackhawks had made a pitching change, Tyler Bishop promptly launched a home run to make it a 4-0 advantage. That wasn't all, either. Nick Piazza roped one into right field and reached on an error, which Griffin Roesch also scored on. That made it 5-0. After a bit of a pitcher's duel, slowly but surely, back came Southeastern Iowa. ICC did take as much as a 6-1 lead on a Bryce Bishop RBI groundout. An RBI double from Doty and Mack reaching on an error (scoring Doty) put the Cougars up 8-3 in the seventh. They were in command, so it seemed. A scoreless seventh for the Blackhawks. One inning closer. In the bottom of the eighth, an RBI single, two-run double, and on the same play, a two-run single was also a two-run error, and just like that, an 8-3 lead became the 10-8 final score. 

HITTING STATS
Luke Doty (CF) | 1 single, 1 double, 2 RBI, 1 stolen base
Bryce Bishop (RF) | 1 RBI, 2 hit by pitches
Kyle Mack (DH) | 2 singles, 2 RBI
Jacob Castleman (3B) | 1 single, 1 double, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Kannon Kleine (C) | 1 single
Tyler Bishop (1B) | 1 home run, 1 RBI, 1 hit by pitch
Griffin Roesch (2B) | 1 single, 1 walk
Riley McCallister (LF) | 2 singles, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Nick Piazza (SS) | 1 single, 2 stolen bases

PITCHING STATS
Gage Burdick | 5 IP, 2 H, 1 ER, 2 BB, 7 SO
Aidan Leemans | 3 BF, 0 H
Caleb Diver | 2 IP, 1 BB, 2 SO
Ian McGhiey | 1 IP, 1 H, 1 ER, 2 SO

GAME 2 | SOUTHEASTERN IOWA 11, ICC COUGARS 6
The Blackhawks got started in game two from right where they left off. They would storm ahead with eight unanswered runs. The Cougars did their best to counter, with an Ashton Horchem RBI sac fly, Kyle Mack two-run double, and Jacob Castleman RBI double pulling ICC within 8-4. Southeastern Iowa chipped in some more, tacking on three more unanswered runs for an 11-4 score. ICC's bats weren't quite done yet, though, with a Horchem RBI single and Mack RBI double setting the final score in game two. 

HITTING STATS
Luke Doty (CF) | 1 single, 1 double, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Ashton Horchem (LF) | 1 single, 2 RBI, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Kyle Mack (1B) | 2 doubles, 3 RBI
Jacob Castleman (3B) | 1 double, 1 RBI
Kannon Kleine (DH) | 1 walk
Eli Boeye (C) | 1 single
Griffin Roesch (2B) | 1 walk
Nick Piazza (SS) | 2 walks

PITCHING STATS
Gavin Thompson | 4 IP, 1 BB, 5 SO
Blake Norton | 2 IP, 1 SO
Alec Bulak | 1 IP, 0 BB

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Mississippi Gulf Coast (12-5)
Saturday, March 2nd - 2:00 PM
Ken Farris Field - Pekinston, Miss.
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