MOUNT VERNON – Cornell and Illinois College played a marathon, run-riddled Midwest Conference baseball doubleheader for the archives Sunday at Ash Park Field.
Nearly seven hours after the first pitch – and an alarming 72 combined runs scored – the teams left the park with a split in which Cornell outscored the Blueboys by a football-esque total of 42-30.
Illinois College struck 10 times in the eighth inning to claim a 21-13 victory in Game 1. The Rams blasted the Blueboys in a 29-9 seven-inning Game 2 rout, fueled by a 15-run first inning.
Cornell, now averaging a blistering 14.6 runs through six league games, moved to 5-13 overall and 3-3 in the MWC South Division. The Blueboys (9-11 overall) are tied atop the division standings at 6-2.
The day began with a scoreless first inning for both teams in Game 1. Then came the offensive fireworks.
In the nightcap, the Rams set a single-game school record for runs scored (29) and tied the program mark for hits (25) and RBIs (23).
Cornell's Caleb Sass (SR/Iowa City, Iowa) and Peyton Berthel (SR/Davenport, Iowa) both batted three times in the first inning alone, when the Rams scored 15 times with help from nine hits and one Illinois College error.
The Rams' lineup was only getting started in Game 2, scoring six times in the second inning and six more in the fourth as the lead ballooned to 27-9.
Ian Renger (SR/Bloomingdale, Ill.) went 4-for-4 with four runs and three RBIs. Zach Stone (SR/Coralville, Iowa) tallied two doubles, four runs and four RBIs. James Kent (SO/Phoenix, Ariz.) was 3-for-5 with three RBIs. Seven Cornell batters had at least two hits in the game. Eleven different Rams scored a run.
Carter Kriegel (SO/Tama, Iowa) fired 3.2 scoreless innings of relief to earn his first pitching win of the season. The sophomore was among 47 players that saw the field in Game 2.
The wild opening game, which featured 29 hits, 10 errors and 10 hit batsmen, had the Rams ahead 11-6 after they plated eight runs in the bottom of the fourth. Illinois College turned that deficit into a comfortable lead by scoring 10 times in the eighth.
Stone and Sass both homered for the Rams, while Kent doubled and drove in three. Freshman Zac Stallman (FR/Cedar Rapids, Iowa) doubled twice and was hit by pitch three times in the game. Berthel and Thomas Jones (SR/Lindenhurst, Ill.) added two hits apiece.
Game 2 witnessed 13 extra-base hits, including three doubles by Illinois College's Griffin King. The Blueboys' Bailey Reed was 3-for-6 with six RBIs.
Coming up – The Rams are scheduled to travel to Monmouth Tuesday for a noon doubleheader in Monmouth, Ill. The Fighting Scots took two games from Cornell on April 3.
