GALESBURG, Ill. — First-year Jacob Halseth tossed seven strong innings and the Knox College baseball team scored six unearned runs with two outs in the second to take the series against visiting Illinois College on Sunday afternoon at Blodgett Field with a 6-2 victory. The Prairie Fire improved to 11-10 on the season and 3-3 in the Midwest Conference, while the Blueboys dropped to 16-11 overall and 4-4 in the league.
The rookie right-hander Halseth was not fazed one bit by getting the starting assignment in the rubber game of the series, though there may have been some jitters at the outset as he walked the leadoff batter to start the game. But the only Illinois College player to advance as far as second base in the first four innings came on an error, and the Blueboys never had more than one hitter reach base in any of those stanzas.
Meanwhile, Knox took advantage of leadoff error in the second, loading the bases with one out. Illinois College right-hander Dawson Vernier (1-3) nearly escaped unscathed, inducing an infield pop for the second out. But when sophomore Tyler Kemp was plunked to force in the first run of the game, the floodgates opened. Sophomore Tyler Thiem lined a two-run single to left, and classmate Aidan McMurtrie followed with a long two-run double to left. First-year Hayden Derlein completed the scoring with an RBI single he dropped just inside the right-field foul line for a 6-0 lead.
A Logan Schwieger solo homer, his second of the weekend and year, with one down in the fifth got the Blueboys on the board. In the sixth, Ketch Mills singled home Louie Bartletti after his leadoff double, but Halseth maintained his composure and retired the last five batters he faced, including the side in order in the seventh.
Knox head coach Jami Isaacson went to a fresh arm to start the eighth in sophomore Leo Dircks, who mimicked Halseth by walking the first batter he faced. But all Illinois College could muster in the rest of the inning was a two-out single before Dircks to the final out on a force out at second. In the ninth, Dircks worked around a one-out single to finish off the win.
Halseth (3-2) yielded just the two runs on four hits and one walk while fanning two. The Prairie Fire may have had just six hits in the contest, but they bunched five of those in the second to provide all the offense Halseth and Dircks needed on this day.
Knox will complete its nine-game home stand on Wednesday afternoon when Augustana College (Ill.) comes to town. First pitch is slated for 3 p.m. with video and stats available through PrairieFire.Knox.edu, the official website of Knox Athletics.
