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Baseball Opens MWC South Schedule with Split Against IC
April 13, 1998
Monmouth,IL -- The Monmouth College men's
baseball team began defense of its 1997 Midwest Conference South Division title with a road
split against Illinois College in Jacksonville on Saturday. The Fighting Scots, who have won
16 of the last 19 MWC South crowns and 10 of the last 11, dropped the opener by a 6-4 count
and then outlasted the Blueboys in a 25-15 slugfest to claim the nightcap. The split moves
Monmouth's season record to 6-9 and leaves the Scots and IC tied for second place in the MWC
South behind early leader Lake Forest (2-0).
Illinois' Rhett Barke tossed his fourth complete game of the season and shut down the Scots in
the first game, allowing only four runs and 8 hits. After spotting IC a 3-1 lead after two
innings, Monmouth rallied to tie the score at 4-4 on a two-run error in the top of the fourth.
Illinois plated the winning runs in their half of the sixth on a two-out, two-run single by
designated hitter Will Lovell. Brad Davis (Galesburg,IL/HS) threw a complete game for
Monmouth but took the loss to drop to 1-4. Casey Boydstun (Galesburg,IL/HS) and Nate
Pokrass (Brookfield,WI/East) each collected two hits, including a double apiece, to pace
the Scots' offense. Kevin Gordon (Peoria,IL/Notre Dame) had an RBI and scored a run.
In the second game, the teams combined for 40 runs, 39 hits and 17 errors and Monmouth broke
single-game records for at-bats, hits and RBI. The Scots totaled 52 official at-bats and were
credited with 25 RBI and 24 hits. The 25 runs were the fourth-highest in team history and the
most scored by Monmouth since the Scots shut out Cornell 27-0 in 1982.
Pokrass was the star at the plate, belting his first two homers of the season and driving in
four runs while scoring three times. His first homer led off the Scots' six-run second, which
was capped off by a two-run double by catcher Joel Fulgenzi (Springfield,IL/Lanphier).
Fulgenzi, who collected three hits and four RBI, and fellow Lanphier High grad Charles
Holloway (Springfield,IL/Lanphier) each scored four runs for Monmouth.
The Scots exploded again for nine runs in the fifth inning as MC sent 13 batters to the plate.
Gordon and Boydstun each drove in runs and Fulgenzi knocked in another pair with a single
before Pokrass unloaded his second roundtripper of the game. Holloway followed two batters
later with a towering two-run homer, his second of the season, to help extend the Scots'
advantage to 16-5.
IC battled back to trim the Monmouth lead from 11 to two at 17-15 after seven innings but the
Fighting Scots' bats came back to life in the eighth. An eight-run outburst sealed the win for
Monmouth as the first five batters scored in the inning. DH Jay Turnbull (Chatham,IL/
Glenwood), who set an individual record with seven at-bats, stroked a two-run single with
the bases loaded to start the scoring and reserve outfielder Tim Creeden (Batavia,IL/HS)
cleared the bases a second time with a three-run double to close out the frame.
Monmouth also benefited from 10 walks off of four Blueboy pitchers. Sophomore Matt Carlson
(Frankfort,IL/Lincoln-Way) (4-0) pitched 5a innings for Monmouth to earn the victory and
stayed unbeaten on the season while Turnbull threw the final 3b innings in relief.
Monmouth is in action next on Wednesday with a non-conference doubleheader at Illinois
Wesleyan University in Bloomington, Illinois. The Scots' next MWC twin-bill is scheduled for
Thursday against Grinnell at Monmouth and the team will travel to Grinnell for another
conference pair on Saturday afternoon.
NOTE: The April 8 home doubleheader against Illinois College has been rescheduled for
Tuesday, April 28 (1:00 PM start). The Scots' softball game against Fontbonne University,
originally scheduled for Tuesday, April 14th at Monmouth, has been moved to Monday,
April 27th (3:00 PM start) due to the recent rains.
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