JACKSONVILLE, Ill. - This afternoon the Beloit College Baseball team split a MWC double-header with the Illinois College Blue Boys. After falling 8-3 in game one, the Buccaneers (17-8, 10-3 MWC) exploded for a 20-2 victory over the Blue Boys (16-11, 3-8 MWC).
In game one, neither team tallied a run until the top of the third.
Jacopo "JT" Tamburini (Bologna, Italy) led off with his first career home run. His solo shot to center gave Beloit an early 1-0 lead. A walk and a double in the home half of the third left the Blue Boys threatening. Starting pitcher
Aiden Phipps (Simi Valley, Calif.) worked out of the jam and preserved the 1-0 lead heading into the fourth.
Matt O'Leary (Clarendon Hills, Ill.) led off with a walk and came around to score when
Connor Vogel (Palmdale, Calif.) doubled to center field. IC got one run back in the bottom of the fourth and tied it at two in the bottom of the fifth. In the top half of the sixth,
Brett Kiger (Beloit, Wis.) gave Beloit the lead back with a solo shot to center of his own. IC added runs in the sixth, seventh and eighth to take a 8-3 win in game one.
Phipps went six innings with
Tommy Murray (Rockton, Ill.) finishing out the last two.
The Buccaneers scored in seven out of eight innings in game two, highlighted by a ten run fifth inning. With runners of second and third, Vogel opened the scoring with an infield ground ball that scored
Jack Alport from third. After another walk, Zenger hit another infield ground ball that scored O'Leary from third. Beloit used more free bases in the top of the second to put runners in scoring position. Tamburini and
Blake Nelson were on second and third before Alport hit a sacrifice fly to right field that drove in Tamburini for Beloit's third run. O' Leary singled to center to score Nelson and Vogel doubled to score O'Leary. The innings fourth and final run came via a Kiger RBI single. IC got one back in the bottom half of the second and after two the Bucs led 6-1.
Vogel hit Beloit's third home run of the day in the top of the fourth, scoring himself and O'Leary to tack two more onto their lead, 8-1.
In the top of the fifth,
Evan Zenger (Burr Ridge, Ill.) singled to lead of the inning before both
Miles Souza (Carpinteria, Calif.) and Tamburini walked to load the bases. Nelson blew the game wide open when he launched a grand slam over the right field fence. Run 13 came after three straight singles and
RJ Pouzar (Hartford, Wis.) came home to score. Kiger pushed the lead to 14, 15-1 with a two RBI single. In his second at bat of the inning, Souza hit an RBI single to left to score Kiger. Nelson racked up RBIs five and six of the inning when he plated two more for Beloit. At the end of five, the Bucs led 18-1. The final two runs came in the sixth and seventh innings via more free bases and wild pitches.
Ben Schweit (Simi Valley, CA.) earned the start on the mound, pitching six complete innings, striking out six and giving up just four hits.
Joshua Stern (Malibu, Calif.) pitched the final inning and struck out two.
Beloit returns to the field tomorrow to close out the series against the Blue Boys. First pitch from Jacksonville is set for 12 pm.
