CHICAGO, Illinois - The Prairie Fire baseball team dropped at conference doubleheader at Chicago on Wednesday afternoon.

Knox struck first in game one with two runs in the top of the first inning, but the Maroons responded with three runs in the bottom half. Knox tied the game in the second on a home-run by Ethan Rompala-Matthews and then took the lead in the third on a home-run by Jason Clark. Chicago used a six run inning in the bottom of the third to take command and they went on to win 16-4 in seven innings.

The Maroons scored three in the first inning of game two and the Prairie Fire came back with three runs in the top of the second. Chicago immediately took the lead again with four runs in the bottom of the second. Knox kept it close until the fifth when the Maroons added four more runs. Chicago cruised to an 18-8 victory in seven innings.

Clark led Knox with four hits on the day. Evan Laws and Troy Brandt added three hits apiece. Holden Jones drove in three runs on the day.

"Our bats finally came alive today," said associate head coach James Clark. "However, we weren't as sharp on the mound and made it tough with the wind blowing out to left all day. We have six days until our next game so we will regroup and work on fine-tuning some things."

Knox travels to Monmouth for a single game on April 11.