GALESBURG, Ill. — The Knox College baseball team could not escape from its recent funk, dropping two games on its home field of Blodgett Field to Cornell College on Saturday afternoon, 8-2 and 12-2. The visiting Rams improved to 13-21 overall and 5-11 in the Midwest Conference while the Prairie Fire (14-19, 6-10 MWC) had their losing streak extended to seven games.
Cornell jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opener with four runs — only two earned — in the second inning, starting with a two-run double off the bat of Sean Alvarez. When the Rams tacked on four more runs in the seventh, their lead ballooned to seven runs at 8-1.
Junior Andrew Garrett drove in both Knox runs with RBI singles in the fourth and ninth innings.
Vince Tinajero (1-4) picked up his first win of the season by hurling seven innings of one-run ball, yielding five hits and a walk while striking out two.
Senior Brandon Ward (4-2) took the loss for surrendering eight runs, six earned, on eight hits and an uncharacteristic six walks and three hit batters.
The nightcap began with Knox jumping out to a 1-0 lead in the first on a sacrifice fly off the bat of sophomore Nicholas Nitti, scoring Tyler Kemp, who walked and advanced to third on a double by sophomore Aidan McMurtrie.
The Rams knotted the score in the third on an unearned run, then pushed four runs across the plate in the fifth on a two-run double by Ryan Weaver followed by a two-run bomb by Alvarez. Collin Severson capped a three-run sixth with a two-run blast of his own, giving Knox déjà vu with an 8-1 lead.
The Prairie Fire scored an unearned run in the seventh, but Cornell tacked on four more in the eighth, and Knox could not avoid the run-rule ending the game when a double play with the bases loaded ended the game.
Ram starter Karson Rose (2-1) claimed the win with six strong innings in which he allowed one run on three hits, three walks and three strikeouts.
Junior Jeff Ripka (4-4) had his record evened out on the season with a similar line to Ward earlier in the day — six innings, eight runs, only six earned, on nine hits but nary a walk. McMurtrie was perfect at the plate for the Fire, going 2-for-2 with his two-bagger, a walk and a sacrifice bunt.
Knox next hosts league-leading Beloit College (22-12, 10-6 MWC) for the final game of their three-game series on Wednesday, April 30 at 1 p.m. The Buccaneers won the first two meetings this past Tuesday, 13-3 and 9-2. The game will be streamed live with live stats through the official website of Knox Athletics, PrairieFire.Knox.edu.
