East Peoria, Ill. - The Illinois Central College baseball team (20-31) took the home field at Thome Field on Wednesday night to battle the Carl Sandburg Chargers in a Region 24/4 crossover. After a scoreless start to the game, the Cougars turned on the jets and powered ahead to a 9-3 win, getting five extra base hits and nine stolen bases in the victory. 

ICC COUGARS 9, CARL SANDBURG 3
The Cougars took to the scoreboard in the second inning on an Eli Boeye sacrifice fly off a 2-0 count, scoring Kyle Mack, who'd doubled earlier.

Bryce Bishop followed in the third with an RBI double and Noah Campbell got a sacrifice fly on the very next plate appearance for a 3-0 lead after 3. 

ICC would be far from done yet. A Nick Piazza RBI double in the fourth made it 4-0, a Kyle Mack RBI single made it 5-0. 

In the seventh, Carl Sandburg would get a run on the board with a wild pitch. A fielder's choice and an error cut it all the way down to 5-3. Alas, Broker Bailey came up with a couple big strikeouts to limit the damage and also maintain the lead. 

In the bottom half of that inning, the Cougars responded. Ashton Horchem reached on an error, Elliot Seckman walked, and Horchem scored on a wild pitch. 6-3. Noah Campbell would walk to put runners on the corners. Seckman scored on a wild pitch to expand the lead to four. As perhaps unconventional as those methods of run-scoring were, Griffin Roesch would get an RBI single to go ahead 8-3 after seven. 

In the bottom of the eighth, Tyler Hansen would set the final score with an RBI single to score Campbell, who'd reached on an error the plate appearance prior. 

COUGAR HITTING
Ashton Horchem | 1 walk, 3 stolen bases
Bryce Bishop | 1 double, 1 RBI, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Elliot Seckman | 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Noah Campbell | 1 single, 1 RBI, 2 walks, 2 stolen bases
Tyler Bishop | 1 single, 1 double
Tyler Hansen | 1 single, 1 RBI
Kyle Mack | 1 double, 1 RBI
Jacob Castleman | 1 double, 1 stolen base
Griffin Roesch | 1 RBI
Eli Boeye | 1 RBI, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Riley McCallister | 1 hit by pitch
Nick Piazza | 1 double, 1 RBI

COUGAR PITCHING
Billy Mini | 3 innings, 2 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
Brody Palmer | 3 innings, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 4 strikeouts
Aidan Leemans | 0.0 innings, 1 hit, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, 0 strikeouts
Broker Bailey | 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 2 strikeouts
Ian McGhiey | 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 1 walk, 1 strikeout
Kyle Miller | 1 inning, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 3 strikeouts

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Lewis & Clark Trailblazers (DH)
Saturday, May 4th - 1:00 / 4:00 PM
Gordon Moore Park - Alton, Ill.