Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

Mount Vernon, IA – The Prairie Fire and Cornell battled through nearly 23 full innings of baseball on Sunday.  When the dust settled, Cornell came away with two close Midwest Conference South Division wins.

A day after the teams split a doubleheader at Blodgett Field, Cornell downed Knox 5-2 in the first game of a twinbill before earning a sweep with a walk-off home run in the bottom of the 14th inning for a 4-3 victory.

The Rams won the finale on a walk-off home run with nobody out and the score tied 3-3 in the bottom of the 14th inning.

Senior Dustin Armstrong (Columbus, OH, Worthington) worked four hitless innings before Wyatt Kurzejeski drove an 0-and-2 count pitch out of Ash Field for the deciding run.  Armstrong (1-2) suffered the hard-luck loss in relief of senior hurler Peter Marquardt (Clarendon Hills, lL, Hinsdale Central), who also pitched well.

Marquardt tossed nine innings, allowing two earned runs on eight hits while striking out seven.

The Prairie Fire opened the scoring in game two on an RBI single by first-year Paul Sanders (Rock Island, IL, Rock Island) that plated sophomore Blake Newberg (Moline, IL, Rock Island Alleman) for a 1-0 lead in the top of the second inning.

Cornell (11-7, 3-1 MWC South) tied the game with a run-scoring single in the bottom of the third.  The Rams added another run on an RBI single in the sixth frame to go up 2-1.

Knox answered with a single by sophomore Drew Osborn (Moline, IL, Moline) that brought senior Phil Tallman (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South) home with the tying run in the top of the seventh.  The Prairie Fire reclaimed the lead at 3-2 in the top of the ninth when first-year Alex Bell (Elgin, IL, Burlington Central) hit into a fielder's choice with one out and the bases loaded, scoring Tallman.

The Rams tied the game with two outs in the bottom of the ninth on a single and a fly ball that was mishandled, allowing the third run for the hosts.

The Prairie Fire (10-7, 1-3 MWC South) had five hits between the 10th and 14th innings, but were unable to score again.

Knox outhit Cornell 16-9.  Osborn led the way with four hits while Tallman had three.

The Prairie Fire came back from a 2-0 deficit in the first game to tie it 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning.

The Rams scored their first run in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single off Knox junior starter Nathaniel Grady (Antelope, CA, Oakmont).  Cornell pushed ahead 2-0 with another run-scoring single in the bottom of the seventh.

The Prairie Fire responded with a hit by Osborn that scored Tallman and sacrifice fly by Newberg that brought first-year Ryan Weitendorf (New Lenox, IL, Lincoln-Way East) home with the tying run.

Cornell followed with three runs off Armstrong, who relieved Grady in the eighth, to account for the final score.

Grady worked seven innings and allowed two runs – one earned, six hits, two walks, and struck out two.

Armstrong, who was charged with the loss, surrendered three runs on four hits with one walk and two strikeouts.

Knox banged out eight hits in the game, led by Tallman with three.  Weitendorf added two hits, including a double.

The Prairie Fire will try to regroup on Tuesday at Illinois Wesleyan University.  It's a single game that's slated to start at 6:00 p.m.