The Beloit College baseball team split a twinbill at Cornell College Sunday afternoon falling in the opener 9-5 before taking the nightcap 7-4. The win pulls head coach
Dave DeGeorge to career win number 499.
The Buccaneers' split Sunday makes the Midwest Conference race even tighter. Lawrence University has already clinched a spot in the tournament. With the top four teams making the league tournament, the University of Chicago stands in good position at 14-5 in conference play. The battle for the final two spots will come down to the final week of competition. Ripon and Beloit currently occupy third and fourth at 10-9 but Illinois College is right behind at 10-11. Cornell and Grinnell are also still in the running with a 9-10 record. The Bucs have the series of finale against Cornell slated for Wednesday before a weekend three-game series at Illinois College. Ripon's final series of the season is against Cornell.
Beloit took an early lead plating a pair on a
Matt O'Leary base knock in the third. The Rams responded with a hit parade in the bottom of the fourth bringing in five runs courtesy of a homer and three doubles.
The Rams added a single run in the sixth and then two in the seventh before Beloit's offense was sparked in the eighth as
Brett Kiger blasted a two-run bomb to make it 8-4. Cornell came back with a single run in the bottom of the frame before
Garrison Ferone wrapped up the scoring with a RBI single in the ninth for the final.
O'Leary and
Matt Crandall each registered a pair of hits to bolster the Bucs' offense. Both of Crandall's hits were two-baggers.
Aiden Phipps suffered the loss on the mound allowing five earned runs in six innings of work while striking out three and walking two.
Crandall continued to have a day at the plate in game two with a four-bagger that sailed over the left field wall and tied game two 1-1 in the third. Kiger followed with a two-RBI single to give the Bucs a 3-1 advantage.
Beloit doubled up in the sixth courtesy of a sacrifice fly from
Miles Souza, an O'Leary single and a bases loaded walk drawn by
James Wicker. Wicker tallied the squad's final run of the game in the top of the ninth with a RBI single to right center that gave Beloit a 7-2 lead before Cornell added a pair in their final at bats.
Crandall went 3-4 with a RBI and two runs scored to lead the offense.
Jacob Sligar picked up the win allowing a single earned run in six innings on the mound adding six strikeouts while walking one.
Kaiya Nishino was credited with a save pitching the final three innings of the contest.
