GRINNELL, Iowa - The Prairie Fire baseball team fell to Grinnell 18-14 in the final game of a three game series on Sunday afternoon.

Knox plated a run in the first inning as Etienne Thomas drove in Luke Mathieu with a sacrifice fly.

The Pioneers responded with two runs in the bottom half to take the lead. Grinnell added three more in the second to go ahead 5-1.

The Prairie Fire scored twice in the top of the third on an RBI single from Nicholas Nitti and a solo home-run by Evan Laws.

Knox tied the game at 5-5 in the fourth on RBI singles from Aidan McMurtrie and Mathieu.

The Prairie Fire took a 7-5 lead in the fifth as McMurtrie hit a two RBI double.

Grinnell scored one run in the bottom of the fifth and then plated four more in the sixth to take a 10-7 lead.

Knox scored four in the top of the seventh thanks to a two RBI double from Nitti.

The Pioneers came right back with five runs in the bottom of the seventh to take a 15-11 lead.

Grinnell tacked on three more runs in the eighth.

The Prairie Fire battled back once again in the ninth with a two-run homer from Laws and an RBI double from Jason Clark, but left the tying run at the plate with the bases loaded to end the game.

Nitti finished 5-for-5 at the plate with three RBI to lead Knox. Mathieu and Tyler Kemp each added three hits and Laws, Clark, McMurtrie, Etienne Thomas, and Andrew Garrett each tallied a pair of hits. Laws finished with two homers and three RBI. McMurtrie also drove in three.

"It was a battle of the bats today and we came up just short," said associate head coach James Clark. "We outhit them, but walked too many guys in the late innings and gave them extra chances."

The Prairie Fire return to action on April 16 as they host Illinois College.