Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Lake Forest, Ill. – The Prairie Fire dropped their first two Midwest Conference games of the season Saturday on the road against red hot Lake Forest College.

Lake Forest held Knox to one hit and took the first game 13-0 before completing the sweep with a 9-1 victory on the doubleheader finale.

The Foresters (12-4, 6-0) remained perfect in MWC South Division play and extended their winning streak to six.

Lake Forest scored all 13 runs in the first two innings of the opening contest.  The Foresters had a six run first inning and plated seven more in the bottom of the second.

Meanwhile, Knox was unable to get on track offensively – managing one hit against LFC starting pitcher Jenny McTague. 

The one hit by the Prairie Fire was a single in the top of the second by sophomore Karli Shields (Naperville, IL, Neuqua Valley), who was charged with the loss in the circle.
Shields (0-10) pitched 1 2/3 innings and allowed eight earned runs, 10 hits, and a pair of walks.

McTague (5-1) picked up the win for Lake Forest after tossing three innings and striking out four.  She combined on the shutout with Kaleigh Ambrose, who walked one and struck out one in her two innings of work.

Lake Forest scored twice in the bottom of the first inning of the second game on an RBI single and a ground ball out that resulted in a 2-0 lead.  The Foresters tacked on four runs in the bottom of the third with an RBI double, a run-scoring single, and a two-run homer to extend the advantage to 6-0.

Knox went down in order until senior Alyssa Bleidorn (Batavia, IL, Batavia) was hit by a pitch to lead off the fourth and first-year Chelsey Howard (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) delivered a two-out single.  Forester starting pitcher Jessi Werner prevented a Prairie Fire rally with a strike out to end the inning.

LFC scored again in the bottom of the fourth to push the lead to 7-0.

The Prairie Fire (1-17, 0-2 MWC South) broke up any hopes of a shutout by Werner when junior Kayla Behrens (Moline, IL, Moline) belted a two out home run, her third of the season, to make it a 7-1 game.

The Foresters closed out the contest with two runs in the bottom of the ninth.

Senior Amber Eisha (South Wilmington, IL, Gardner-South Wilmington) took the loss for Knox.  Eisha (1-7) surrendered six earned runs, 10 hits, and one walk while striking out one.

Werner (7-3) picked up the victory after working six innings and allowing one run and five hits with 10 strikeouts.

Bleidorn led the Prairie Fire with two hits.

Knox resumes play at home on Sunday with a non-conference doubleheader against MacMurray College.  The first game of the doubleheader begins at 3:00 p.m.