East Peoria, IL - The Illinois Central College Baseball team (11-27, 6-12) was back in action on Saturday afternoon to host the Danville Area Jaguars in the first two games of a four-game MWAC series at Thome Field in East Peoria. In the opener, the Cougars and Jaguars went at it in a pitchers duel, with Danville Area taking a close 2-0 ballgame. Offense was more present in the second game, with ICC using an early charge to pull away for a 9-4 victory. 

GAME ONE | DANVILLE AREA 2, ILLINOIS CENTRAL 0
Danville Area would not only hit the run column first, but also the first base runner of the game, as those seemed few and far between. An RBI single in the third pushed the Jaguar lead to 2-0, but meanwhile, the Cougars remained hitless. 

ICC would break through in the sixth, getting their first hit on a leadoff double by Nate Bartman. A single soon followed from Ryan Brucker to put two runners in scoring position, but a flyout ended the scoring threat. 

The Cougars got two more on in the seventh with a pair of singles from Kyle Binder and Kaiden Lucero, but a strikeout ended that inning. 

A leadoff single from Elliot Seckman was the lone ICC hit the rest of the way, with Danville Area taking the shutout win. 

COUGAR HITTING
Elliot Seckman | 1 single
Ryan Brucker | 1 single
Kyle Binder | 1 single, 1 walk
Jake Stewart | 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Kaiden Lucero | 1 single
Nate Bartman | 1 double

COUGAR PITCHING
Broker Bailey (L) | 6 innings, 5 hits, 2 earned runs, 1 walk, 6 strikeouts
Caleb Bieneman | 3 innings, 2 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 2 strikeouts

GAME TWO | ILLINOIS CENTRAL 9, DANVILLE AREA 4
For how much action there was in the first game, blink, and it may have been missed in the second game of the day. While Danville Area did lead 2-0 after half an inning, the Cougars responded with two outs, using a two-run home run from Jayden Malone and an RBI double from Jake Stewart to take the lead back at 3-2 after one. 

ICC's bats would swell the lead even more when Malone came up big again, this time with a two-run double and giving the Cougars a three-run advantage. 

More fireworks were launched in the third, when Thomas Krueger roped a bases-clearing three-RBI double to truly pull ahead to the tune of an 8-2 score. 

Danville Area would get as close as 8-3 on an RBI single in the fourth, but the Cougars put it back at six runs thanks to a Colton Williams RBI sacrifice fly. Yet again, the Jaguars got another RBI single, but that would be it for both teams.

COUGAR HITTING
Kaiden Lucero | 1 single
Thomas Krueger | 1 single, 1 double, 3 RBI
Ryan Brucker | 1 single, 2 walks, 1 hit by pitch
Jayden Malone | 1 double, 1 home run, 4 RBI
Chris Casey | 1 single
Jake Stewart | 1 single, 1 double, 1 RBI, 1 stolen base
Colton Williams | 1 RBI, 1 hit by pitch
Nate Bartman | 1 single, 1 hit by pitch
Elliot Seckman | 1 hit by pitch

COUGAR PITCHING
Kaiser Quick | 1 inning, 1 hit, 1 earned run, 0 walks, 1 strikeout
Logan Justus (W) | 3 innings, 4 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Spencer Timm (S) | 3 innings, 3 hits, 1 earned run, 3 walks, 3 strikeouts

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
@ Danville Area Jaguars
Sunday, April 13th - 1:00 PM (DH)
at Danville Stadium - Danville, IL