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Box Score 2
Chatham, Ill. – The Prairie Fire opened the 2014 season with a pair of losses on the road against Benedictine University – Springfield.
Benedictine, which had already played 11 games going into the doubleheader against Knox, won the first game 8-3 before completing the sweep with a 9-1 victory on Monday afternoon.
NAIA member Benedictine (5-8) got on the board in the opener with a run in the bottom of the first inning for an early lead. The Bulldogs plated four more runs in the home half of the third to extend the advantage to 5-0.
The Prairie Fire answered with a solo homer by junior
Kayla Behrens (Moline, IL, Moline) in the top of the fourth to trim the deficit to 5-1. Benedictine came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning to build a 7-1 lead.
After a quiet fifth frame for both squads, Knox scored twice in the top of the sixth on back-to-back, two out RBI singles by junior
Brittney Price (Wyoming, IL, Stark County) and
Alyssa Bleidorn (Batavia, IL, Batavia) to pull within 7-3. The Bulldogs halted the rally with a strikeout that stranded two Prairie Fire base runners.
Benedictine added one more run two hits in the bottom of the sixth inning.
Junior
Rhiannon Neuville (Eugene, OR, South Eugene) reached base three times for Knox with a single and two walks. Behrens scored twice and senior
Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) was 1-for-3 at the dish with a run scored.
Eisha took the loss in the circle for the Prairie Fire. She tossed six innings and allowed five earned runs, 12 hits, and three walks while striking out seven.
BU scored in every inning of the second game and outhit Knox 10-2.
The Bulldogs tallied a run on two hits in the first inning to go up 1-0. The Prairie Fire tied the game at 1-1 when Bleidorn walked and came around to score on an errant throw.
Benedictine scored twice in the second inning to reclaim the lead, 3-1.
Knox had a promising start to the third inning when junior
Claire Neri (Melrose Park, IL, West Leyden) led off with a single. She moved into scoring position on a sac bunt by sophomore
Karli Shields (Naperville, IL, Neuqua Valley), but a line-out to first base and a strikeout held the Prairie Fire in check.
Benedictine stretched its lead to 4-1 in the bottom of the third, and then tallied three runs in the fourth inning to break the game open.
Knox managed just one more hit, a single by first-year
Chelsey Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) in the fifth.
Shields pitched for the Prairie Fire and suffered the loss. She surrendered four earned runs, walked four, and struck out two in 4 2/3 innings.
The Prairie Fire compete next in the Gene Cusic Collegiate Classic in Fort Myers, Florida between March 18 and 22. The first of eight games for Knox in Florida is against Nichols College on March 18 at 9:00 a.m.