GALESBURG, Illinois—The Prairie Fire won their home opener in walk-off fashion against Robert Morris-Peoria on Tuesday afternoon.

Knox (2-7) and the Eagles played scoreless baseball through three innings. Robert Morris broke through with runs in the fourth and fifth innings to take a 2-0 lead. The Prairie Fire battled back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the sixth to tie the game. The Eagles responded in the top of the seventh with a run to take a 3-2 lead. Knox again battled back to a tie with a two-out double by Kam Wells (Champaign, IL, Champaign Central) to score Matt McCaffrey (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) in the bottom of the seventh inning. The score would remain three all until Alex Bell (Elgin, IL, Burlington Central) hit a walk-off two-run blast in the bottom of the ninth.


Drake Sykes (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) earned the win on the mound after getting out of a bases loaded jam in the top of the ninth. Alec Jordan (Spring Grove, IL, Richmond-Burton) got the start and threw two scoreless innings. Tom Janczur (Darien, IL, Downer's Grove South) allowed one unearned run in two innings of work. Dalton James (Homer, IL, Heritage) threw a scoreless sixth inning, while Jack Barreca (Grayslake, IL, Grayslake North) gave up an unearned run in the seventh. Marty Salazar (Normal, IL, Normal Community) tossed an inning and a third of scoreless ball, before Sykes came in for the win.

Sykes finished 2-for-4 at the plate, while Ryan Weitendorf (New Lenox, IL, Lincoln-Way East) and Bell each drove in two runs. Wells earned an RBI and McCaffrey scored both the tying run in the seventh inning and the game-winning run in the ninth.

The Prairie Fire will host Beloit on April 2 for baseball homecoming.