Knox College Prairie Fire

The Knox College baseball team ended the regular season home portion of the schedule in near-perfect fashion on Wednesday afternoon, as the offense slugged, the defense shone, and the pitching was solid. To make things even better, the Prairie Fire sent the fans home happy, topping Eureka 16-6 in seven innings.

Knox (6-31) closes out the regular season this weekend, playing a three-game series at Ripon. The teams play a doubleheader on Saturday, then a single game on Sunday.

On Wednesday afternoon at home, the offense was on display early and often as the Prairie Fire scored in each inning.

Nicholas Nitti had a day for the record books, going 4-6 with four runs scored and eight RBI. Nitti's third-inning grand slam broke open the game and gave Knox an 8-0 lead.

While Nitti was a one-man wrecking crew, he was not the only contributor. Hayden Derlein added four hits, a run, and an RBI. Thomas Wilmot had three hits and two RBI. Clayton Rice contributed three hits and scored twice. Tyler Kemp delivered three hits, an RBI, and scored four times.

All nine Knox starters had at least one hit, seven different players had an RBI, and eight players scored at least one run.

Knox jumped ahead, scoring two in the first and one in the second. The Prairie Fire delivered a near-knockout blow in the third, scoring five runs. 

Eureka mounted a comeback in the fourth, scoring three runs. However, Kemp stopped the rally with a leaping catch at the left-centerfield fence. 

The play was appreciated by winning pitcher Patrick Shannon, who dazzled through three innings, then pitched around some Eureka power in the fourth to get the victory.

It did not take Knox to get the runs back, though, as a three-run bottom of the fourth made it again an eight-run Prairie Fire lead.

Eureka tried to chip away again, scoring three runs. However, a double play turned by the Knox infield closed the door for good on the Eureka offense.

From there, Lucas Fujii took over the mound and shut down the Eureka bats.

Knox again answered Eureka's three runs with three of its own, scoring one in the fifth and two in the sixth for an eight-run, 14-6 lead.

The Prairie Fire ended the game early as Nitti fittingly scored the winning run, coming home from third on an RBI single by Wilmot. 

The four runs scored by Nitti and Kemp tie the duo for third all-time in a single game. Nitti's grand slam makes him the 19th player in program history to accomplish the feat, and his eight RBI are the second-most in a single game in program history.