East Peoria, Ill. - The Illinois Central College baseball team (13-22) made a quick pit stop at Thome Field on Wednesday afternoon, hosting the Blue Storm of Southwestern Illinois in a rematch from late-February, which the Blue Storm won in Belleville, 12-3. Alas, Southwestern Illinois would take the series finale as well, defeating the Cougars, 16-2. 

SWIC BLUE STORM 16, ICC COUGARS 2
The Blue Storm got off to a red-hot start, taking a 11-0 lead after three and a half innings. Meanwhile, the Cougars made noise in the third, when Nick Piazza singled, Elliot Seckman walked, and Blake Norton singled, all consecutively, and subsequently loading the bases. ICC got one run out of it when Griffin Roesch drew a bases-loaded walk to make it 11-1 at the time. 

Despite the Cougars hitting the scoreboard, the Blue Storm scored five unanswered runs to take a 16-1 lead after six. 

A theme within ICC's two run-scoring innings was the leadoff base runner, and the same part of the order as well. In the seventh, it was an Seckman walk and a Norton hit by pitch had the Cougars in position, and Seckman would score on a wild pitch to set the final score. 

COUGAR BATTING
Nick Piazza | 1 single, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Elliot Seckman | 3 walks
Blake Norton | 1 single, 1 hit by pitch, 1 walk
Griffin Roesch | 1 RBI, 2 walks
Jake Stewart | 1 walk
Eli Boeye | 1 walk
Nate Bartman | 1 walk

COUGAR PITCHING
Brody Palmer | 2 innings, 7 hits, 6 earned runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Kyle Miller | 0.0 innings, 3 hits, 5 earned runs, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts
Blake Norton | 2 innings, 3 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Broker Bailey | 2 innings, 1 hit, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
Billy Mini | 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 0 strikeouts

WHAT'S UP NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Spoon River Snappers
Saturday, April 13th - 12:00 PM (DH)
SRC Baseball Field - Canton, Ill.