GALESBURG, Illinois - The Prairie Fire baseball team dropped a doubleheader to Monmouth 4-0 and 9-5 to open Midwest Conference play.

The teams remained scoreless through seven innings in game one before the Fighting Scots broke through for four runs in the top of the eighth inning. Brandon Ward threw seven scoreless innings, allowing just six hits.

In game two, the teams both score two runs in the first inning and a run in the fourth. Monmouth scored five runs in the sixth to take the lead for good.

Cole Shepherd led the Prairie Fire with five hits on the day. Evan Laws and Etienne Thomas each added two hits.

"We really only had two bad innings all day, but it was enough to do us in," said associate head coach James Clark. "We left too many guys on base in both games and we will have to find ways to move runners better going forward."

Knox returns to action on April 1 as they host Beloit for a single game.