Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Galesburg, Ill. – The Prairie Fire overcame early deficits to sweep a doubleheader from Lawrence University on Saturday at Blodgett Field.

Knox won the first game 19-9 in eight innings and followed with a 7-3 victory against the Vikings.

The Prairie Fire (13-12) trailed 6-0 after two innings in the opening contest before the offense got going. Knox scored twice in the bottom of the third on RBI singles by sophomore Cody Boal (The Sea Ranch, CA, Dunn School) and senior Erik Smoy (Hoffman Estates, IL, Hoffman Estates) to cut the Lawrence lead to 6-2.

Sophomore Blake Newberg (Moline, IL, Rock Island Alleman) and Boal both doubled in a run in the Prairie Fire fourth inning to inch closer at 6-4.

The Vikings regained a four run advantage, 8-4, with two runs in the top of the fifth. 

The Prairie Fire exploded for nine runs in their next at-bat to take a 13-8 lead, and never looked back.  Senior Bryan Leslie (Richmond, IL, Richmond-Burton) and first-year Paul Sanders (Rock Island, IL, Rock Island) drove in two runs each in the frame with singles.

Lawrence (4-14) shaved a run off the Knox lead with a run in the seventh.  Sophomore Austin Bevenue (Millstadt, IL, Belleville Althoff) countered in the bottom of the inning by blasting a three-run homer, his second of the season, to give the Prairie Fire a 16-9 lead.

First-year hurler Alec Jordan (Spring Grove, IL, Richmond-Burton) pitched a scoreless top of the eighth, and Knox followed with three runs to end the game.

Boal hit a solo shot, his first, to extend the lead to eight.  Smoy doubled in a run and sophomore Drew Osborn (Moline, IL, Moline) singled to score Sanders for a 10-run lead and a Prairie Fire victory.

Senior Peter Marquardt (Clarendon Hills, lL, Hinsdale Central) took over on the mound with Knox trailing 6-0 and worked four innings to earn the win.  Marquardt (3-2) allowed two runs and five hits and struck out four.

Knox tied a season high with 19 runs and recorded a season-best 23 hits.

Smoy led the way with five hits.  He also tallied three RBIs and three runs scored.  Boal had his biggest offensive game in a Knox uniform with four hits, four RBIs, and three runs scored.  Osborn added four hits and scored twice while Bevenue contributed two hits, three runs batted in, and three runs scored.

Knox also had a season-high seven steals, including two apiece by Smoy and Newberg.

The second game was a contrast to the slugfest the teams played in the opener.

Lawrence scored first on a wild pitch in the top of the fourth to stake to a 1-0 lead.

Osborn singled in the tying run in the bottom of the fourth, and the Prairie Fire added a second run on a double play ball that sent first-year Ryan Weitendorf (New Lenox, IL, Lincoln-Way East) home.

Knox stretched its lead to 5-1 thanks to a three-run fifth inning.  Weitendorf drove home a pair with a single and Bevenue followed with an RBI single.

Junior Ryder Borre (Wilmette, IL, New Trier), who relieved senior starter Paul Mills (Moline, IL, Moline) in the fifth, shut the Vikings out through the seventh inning.  Mills tossed 4 1/3 innings and surrendered only one run, five hits, one walk, and struck out three.

A sacrifice fly by Smoy that scored senior Phil Tallman (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South) in the bottom of the seventh gave the Prairie Fire a five run cushion, 6-1.

Lawrence came back with a run in the top of the eighth to pull within four at 6-2.  Knox got that run back in the bottom half of the inning on a single by Newberg that scored Osborn, who led off with a single.

The Vikings closed out the scoring with an unearned run in the top of the ninth.

Borre (3-2) won his third straight decision.  He pitched 3 2/3 innings and limited Lawrence to an unearned run and two hits.

Osborn had four hits and an RBI for Knox.  He went 8-for-9 at the plate in the two games with three runs scored and two runs batted in, raising his batting average to .453.

Weitendorf chipped in with two hits, two RBIs, and two runs scored.  Tallman reached base three times with a double, a single, and a walk and scored twice for the Prairie Fire.

Knox tries to build on its winning streak against Augustana College on Wednesday at home (3:00 pm).  The teams have met two previous times this season, and Augie has won both of them – including a 9-2 victory on April 15 in Moline.