MONMOUTH, Ill. — After opening Midwest Conference play on Saturday with a resounding 6-1 victory over Cornell College, the Beloit College Buccaneers met the Rams at another neutral site on Sunday and split the doubleheader 7-9, 16-13 to secure a 2-1 series win.
The Bucs (9-5, 2-1 MWC) held a 5-3 lead after four innings in the first game, but were outscored 6-2 the rest of the way. They outhit the Rams 12-9, including a pair of home runs by Brett Kiger. The Beloit native smacked a three-run shot in the first inning and added a solo blast in the seventh that drew the Bucs within 9-7.
Catcher Blake Nelson was 3-for-4 for the Bucs with a double, a homer, a run scored and two RBIs. Kiger finished 2-for-3 with two runs scored and four RBIs and Evan Zenger was 2-for-4 with an RBI.
Ben Schweiz started for the Bucs and allowed two hits and three runs in four innings. Caleb Lasher (0-1) took the loss, allowing four hits and four runs in one innings. Tommy Murray allowed two hits and two runs in two innings.
Harvey Pena worked two scoreless innings.
The final game on Sunday featured an offensive explosion as the two teams combined for 29 runs and 29 hits.
After the Rams scored three in the first, the Bucs tied it up in the second after Drew Hanson’s two-run double and Preston Matson’s RBI single.
Evan Zenger’s RBI groundout tied it back at four in the third and Beloit took a 7-5 lead in the fourth with the help one-run singles from Brendan Meyers and Connor Vogel.
Vogel’s one-run single kicked off a four-run sixth inning from the Bucs but Cornell moved within 11-9 in the seventh.
Meyers, Vogel and Kiger launched back-to-back-to-back solo home runs in the seventh before the Rams scored four runs in the top of eighth to make it a one-run game. Jack Alport and Vogel each launched RBI doubles in the bottom of the eighth to finish off the scoring.
Alport earned the save with a 1-2-3 ninth inning. Kaiya Nishino started the game and allowed five runs (four earned) in four innings while striking out four.
Kiger was walked four times as the Bucs drew nine walks. Vogel went 4-for-6 with four RBI while Meyers had three hits but Cornell outhit Beloit 15-14.
Saturday’s game was moved from Beloit to Community Field in Burlington, Iowa, due to snowy and sloppy local conditions. The Rams scored their lone run in the first inning off starting pitcher Aiden Phipps (3-1). The Buc pitched seven innings, striking out four and walking none. Micah Wilk pitched two scoreless innings, striking out one and walking one.
Beloit tied it in the second when Zenger walked, moved to second on a passed ball and scored on Elijah Love’s RBI single.
The Bucs took the lead for good in the third. Jack Alford led off with a single, stole second and took third on a wild pitch. He scored on Connor Vogel’s groundout to third.
Beloit tacked on a run in the fifth when Brendan Meyers singled, moved to third on Vogel’s single and scored on a wild pitch. In the sixth, RJ Pouzar walked, Jacopo Tamburini hit an RBI pinch-hit double and then scored on an error. Seth Brankey added an RBI single in the sixth.
• LINESCORES:
Saturday
BELOIT 6, CORNELL 1
Beloit 011 012 010 — 6 11 1
Cornell 100 000 000 — 1 10 2
Leading hitters: BC, Tomsyck 2x5; Alport 1x4, 1 run; Meyers 1x4, 1 run; Branky 1x1, 1 rbi; Vogel 1x5, 1 rbi; Zenger 1x3, 1 run; Love 1x5, 1 rbi; Pouzar 1x2, 2 runs; Tamburini 1x1, 1 run, 1 rbi. CC, Rose 3x4, 1 run; Alvarez 2x5; Parks 2x4; Perez 1x4, 1 rbi. 2B: Tamburini. 3B: Kiger (BC).
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BC, Phipps (W,3-1) 7.0-0-1-1-0-4; Wilk 2.0-1-0-0-1-1. CC, Anderson (L,1-1) 4.0-3-2-2-2-7; Brutsche 4.0-6-4-3-4-2; Zahn 1.0-2-0-0-0-0.
Sunday
Game 1
CORNELL 9, BELOIT 7
Cornell 210 042 000 — 9 9 0
Beloit 300 210 100 — 7 12 0
Leading hitters: C, Beals 2x5, 2 runs, 1 rbi; Alvarez 3x4, 3 runs, 3 rbi; Rose 3x4, 2 runs, 1 rbi; Perez 1x3, 3 rbi. B, Kigeer 2x3, 2 runs, 4 rbi; Zenger 2x4, 1 rbi; Nelson 3x4, 1 run, 2 rbi. 2B: Alvarez, Rose, Perez, Zenger, Nelson. HR: Beals, Alvarez 2, Rose, Kiger 2, Nelson.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): C, Velazquez 4.0-8-5-5-0-6; Whaley (W,3-1) 5.0-4-2-2-1-6. B, Schweiz 4.0-2-3-3-3-5; Lasher (L,0-1) 1.0-4-4-4-1-0; Murray 2.0-2-2-2-0-3; Pena 2.0-1-0-0-2-2.
Game 2
BELOIT 16, CORNELL 13
Cornell 301 100 440 — 13 15 1
Beloit 031 304 32 — 16 14 4
Leading hitters: CC, Parks 4x5, 3 rbi; Whelan 3x6, 3 runs, 2 rbi; Beals 2x6, 1 run, 1 rbi; Rose 2x4, 3 runs, 3 rbi; Perez 2x5, 3 runs, 3 rbi; Zipperer 1x4, 2 rbi. BC, Vogel 4x6, 3 runs, 4 rbi; Meyers 3x5, 2 runs, 2 rbi; Alport 1x5, 3 runs, 2 rbi; Kiger 1x1, 2 runs, 2 rbi; Hanson 1x2, 2 runs, 3 rbi. 2B: Beals, Whelan, Alport, Vogel, Zenger (BC), Love (BC), Hanson. HR: Rose, Whelan, Meyers, Vogel, Kiger.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): CC, Schope (L,0-2) 3.1-6-7-7-4-5; Morris 1.2-1-1-1-2-2; Mince 0.0-2-3-2-2-0; Brevig 1.1-3-3-3-1-2; Frame 1.2-2-2-2-0-1. BC, Nishino 4.0-7-5-4-1-4; Burke (W,2-1) 2.0-3-4-4-2-1; Pena 2.0-5-4-2-1-3; Alport 1.0-0-0-0-0-0.
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