Normal, Ill. - The Illinois Central College baseball team fell to Heartland and Moberly Area in the Central District Tournament at the Corn Crib on Thursday. The Cougars lost to #7 Heartland 12-2 in the opener and to Moberly Area 7-2 to close out their season at 24-37.

Game 1: Heartland 12, Illinois Central 2 (5 inn.)
Aiden Fulton got the Cougars off on the right foot with a lead-off single followed by a Ryan Brucker base hit that moved Fulton to third. Jake Morrill did his job with a sacrifice fly to left for a 1-0 lead.

Heartland (41-14) got on the board in the bottom of the second on two singles to make the score 1-all. 

The Hawks took control in the third. After a lead-off walk, single, and error that loaded the bases, HCC used back-to-back RBI singles and another wild pitch for five runs taking a 6-1 lead.

Micah McCoy led off the fourth with a solo home run to center field for a 6-2 score, but that was all the Cougars would manage. HCC added three runs in both the fourth and the fifth to take the game in five innings.

GAME 1 HITTING
Micah McCoy | 1-2, RBI, home run
Jake Morrill | RBI
Aiden Fulton | 1-2
Ryan Brucker | 1-2

GAME 1 PITCHING
Wyatt Jaeck | 4.0 IP, 8 H, 9 R, 5 ER, 4 BB, 5 K
Lane Hunt | .2 IP, 2 H, 3 R, 1 BB

Game 2: Moberly Area 7, Illinois Central 2
Moberly (37-18) got on the board in the second inning with a two-run homer. They added three more in the fifth on three singles and two sacrifice flies and tallied another run in the sixth for a 6-0 advantage.

Morrill's lead-off single gave ICC a spark in the seventh and he scored on Kyle Miller's double for a 6-2 score. Charlie Graham walked and Ashton Corley singled to load the bases with one out, but the MACC pitcher forced a ground-out and fly out to end a potential rally.

The Cougars threatened again in the top of the eighth when Brucker and McCoy singled. A Morrill walk loaded the bases and Miller followed with an RBI base hit to make it 6-2 with no outs. But unfortunately Moberly again got out of the jam, striking out the next three ICC batters. 

The Greyhounds added a run in the bottom of the eighth for the final margin. 

GAME 2 HITTING
Kyle Miller | 3-4, 2 RBI
Ryan Brucker | 1-1
Micah McCoy | 1-5
Jake Morrill | 1-4
Ashton Corley | 1-4

GAME 2 PITCHING
Cam Clifton | 5.0 IP, 5 H, 5 R, 5 ER, 2 K
Braden Vanderheydt | 1.0 IP, 3 H, 1 R, 1 ER, 0 BB, 0 K
Cleveland Bizosky | 2.0 IP, 1 H, 1 R, 0 BB, 1 K

THANK YOU to the sophomores for their time and dedication to the ICC baseball program: Aiden Fulton, Kyle Miller, Ryan Brucker, Caleb Bieneman, Charlie Graham, Kyle Binder, Cam Clifton, Spencer Timm, Jake Morrill, Brett Granger, Colton Williams, Eli Wang, and Wyatt Jaeck. Best of luck in the future!