Canton, IL - The Illinois Central College Baseball team (8-26, 3-11) made the short trip over to Canton to take on the Spoon River Snappers (11-20, 5-13) for the first two games of a four-game MWAC series. A big start to the game would be enough for Spoon River to take the opener, 9-5. In the second game, the Cougar bats exploded, scoring in every inning on their way to a 14-4 win. 

GAME ONE | SPOON RIVER 9, ILLINOIS CENTRAL 5
The Cougars fell behind the 8-ball early with a five-run second inning by the snappers, but certainly did their best to counter. In the top of the fourth, an RBI single from Ryan Brucker, RBI single from Kyle Binder (+ Chris Casey scoring on the throw), and a Kaiden Lucero RBI single all pulled ICC back within a single run at a 5-4 score. Alas, Spoon River answered in the next half inning and extended their lead back up to three runs at 7-4. 

After an RBI single in the bottom of the sixth had the Snappers doubling up the Cougars, a single and a walk followed, but Broker Bailey was able to draw a groundout on the second pitch of the next at bat to prevent any further damage to the run column. 

In the top of the seventh, Thomas Krueger took a 1-1 pitch on a rope out to left field for a double, and Brucker sent him home with an RBI single to make it a three-run game (8-5). 

Both teams would struggle to push any runs across for a brief while. That was, until the bottom of the eighth, when a double set up an RBI single for an insurance run for Spoon River and set the final score at 9-5. The Cougars did end the inning on a lineout double play turned by Nate Bartman at shortstop. 

Down to the last three outs, ICC led off with a first-pitch single from Kaiden Lucero, but two groundouts and a popout would follow to end the game. 

COUGAR HITTING
Aidan Fulton | 1 hit
Thomas Krueger | 1 single, 2 doubles
Ryan Brucker | 3 singles, 2 RBI
Chris Casey | 1 double
Kyle Binder | 1 single, 2 RBI
Kaiden Lucero | 2 singles, 1 RBI
Jake Stewart | 1 hit by pitch

COUGAR PITCHING
Caleb Bieneman (L) | 1.1 innings, 1 hit, 5 earned runs, 4 walks, 1 strikeout
Logan Justus | 3.2 innings, 3 hits, 2 earned runs, 3 walks, 4 strikeouts
Broker Bailey | 1 inning, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 2 walks, 0 strikeouts
Billy Mini | 2 innings, 2 hits, 1 earned run, 1 walk, 0 strikeouts

GAME TWO | ILLINOIS CENTRAL 14, SPOON RIVER 4
The Cougars went right to work in the final game of the day. After two outs to start the game, a Chris Casey single set up an 0-1 shot from Jayden Malone over the left field fence to score Casey and take an early 2-0 lead. Spoon River would load the bases in the bottom half (single, single, walk), but Kaiser Quick shut the door with a strikeout. 

More offensive action in the second saw Colton Williams single, Elliot Seckman walk, and Jace Easley single before an out could be recorded. Nate Bartman would add an RBI to his name on a liner out to right for a single and a 3-0 lead. Down to two outs, Casey would get Elliot Seckman home on an RBI single and to go ahead 4-0 after just two innings. 

Easley would join the RBI festivities in the third, scoring Jayden Malone and giving ICC a comfortable five-run cushion. Now, the Snappers would answer with an RBI double, but the Cougars answered right back with a Casey RBI groundout to keep the margin at five. 

Elliot Seckman would grow the lead in the fifth on a first-pitch RBI single to make it a 7-1 score. While a six-run margin may seem fairly safe, ICC truly ramped it up in the sixth. After Kaiden Lucero was hit by a pitch and Thomas Krueger walked to start the inning, on consecutive plate appearances, Casey had a two-RBI triple, Malone had the green light on 3-0 for an RBI double, and Malone came around to score on a wild pitch to balloon the lead to 11-1. 

While the margin was what it was, there was still a little back and forth. Spoon River cut it back to single digits on an RBI sacrifice fly in the sixth, but Lucero almost immediately responded with a single that scored Bartman on the throw to go back up 10. Shortly thereafter, an RBI groundout for Malone and Casey scoring on an error ended the scoring for the day for ICC. 

Spoon River did get a single and a two-run double in the bottom of the seventh to set the final score, but a strikeout prevented any further scoring and gave the Cougars their 10-run victory. 

COUGAR HITTING
Kaiden Lucero | 1 single, 1 RBI, 1 walk, 1 hit by pitch, 2 stolen bases
Thomas Krueger | 1 walk
Chris Casey | 2 singles, 1 triple, 4 RBI, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Jayden Malone | 1 double, 1 home run, 4 RBI
Jake Stewart | 1 single, 1 walk, 1 stolen base
Colton Williams | 1 single
Elliot Seckman | 1 single, 1 double, 1 RBI, 2 walks
Jace Easley | 2 singles, 1 RBI
Nate Bartman | 1 single, 1 double, 1 RBI

COUGAR PITCHING
Kaiser Quick (W) | 6.2 innings, 11 hits, 4 earned runs, 2 walks, 8 strikeouts
Spencer Timm | 0.1 innings, 0 hits, 0 earned runs, 0 walks, 1 strikeout

WHAT'S NEXT FOR THE COUGARS
vs. Spoon River Snappers (11-20, 5-13)
Monday, April 7th - 3:00 PM (DH)
at Thome Field - East Peoria, IL
Watch Live (AWRE TV)
Live Stats (GameChanger; "25 ICC Cougars Baseball")