GALESBURG, Illinois - The Prairie Fire baseball team is now an even .500 in the Midwest Conference south division after the first weekend of conference play. Knox (7-6, 2-2 MWC) split a doubleheader with Cornell College (4-11, 2-2 MWC) again Tuesday after splitting in Mt. Vernon on Sunday.
 
Game one was a pitching and defensive battle for the first 5 ½ innings. Stryker Davies (Glenrock, WY, Glenrock) picked up his first win of the season after going 6.2 dominant innings; allowing only three hits and zero earned runs while striking out three. Andrew Ponce (Bloomington, IL, University) finished out the 7th and came back for the 8^th, but Tom Janczur (Darien, IL, Downer's Grove South) would enter to finish the game after Ponce gave up the lone run of the game. At the plate Knox racked up 11 hits and scored five of their eight runs in the 6th and 8th innings. Drake Sykes (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) led the offensive attack with three hits in four at-bats, a team-high four RBI and a monster home run to seal the deal in the 8th inning. Matt McCaffrey (Wilmette, IL, New Trier) went 2-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored. Tristyn Ruiz (Waukegan, IL, Waukegan) was 2-for-3 in the game, scoring 3 runs. Kam Wells (Champaign, IL, Champaign Central) was 2-for-4 with two runs scored and Matt Mueller (Silex, MO, Silex) delivered a big pinch-hit double in the 8th inning. This offensive assault lifted the Fire over Cornell for their second win in the conference.
 
Game two was not of the same fortune for the Fire. Trevan Lowtharp (Rockford, IL, Winnebago) took the loss in a hard-fought 5.2 innings, giving up six hits and four total runs along the way, though only one was earned.  He struck out eight. Zach Chainuck (Plainfield, IL, Plainfield East), Larry Murray (Dardenne Prairie, MO, Fort Zumwalt West), Kyle Yang (Indian Head Park, IL, Lyons Township), and Jack Barreca (Grayslake, IL, Grayslake North) would finish the remaining innings and give up eight more runs to bring the total to 12 runs. It seemed that Knox used the better part of their allotted runs for the day in game one. Knox was only able to scratch five runs across in game two, more than enough in most instances. Juston Woodard (Oak Lawn, IL, Mount Carmel) was 2-for-4 in this game; Sykes, McCaffrey and Alex Bell (Elgin, IL, Burlington Central) each had a hit.

A 2-2 start to the conference season will put the Fire in a good position going forward. They will play again April 9 at Blodgett Field when they take on MacMurray College.