JACKSONVILLE, Illinois - The Prairie Fire baseball team dropped a 3-1 game to Illinois College in the first game of a three game conference series on Tuesday.

The Blueboys pushed across a run in the bottom of the second inning to take an early lead. They added two more in the sixth inning to expand their lead.

Knox pushed across a run in the eighth inning and left the bases loaded in the ninth.

Cole Shepherd tallied two hits to lead the Prairie Fire. Etienne Thomas plated the only run with an RBI groundout.

Ira Moore allowed three runs on six hits over six innings on the mound. Joe Krantz and Saverio Scumaci each tossed scoreless innings in relief to keep the game within reach.

"We played well today in all facets of the game," said associate head coach James Clark. "We left too many runners on base again, but had some hard hit balls in those situations today so we're very close to winning games like this."

Knox returns to action on April 22 as they travel to Ripon to begin a three game Midwest Conference set.