GALESBURG, Ill. – One out away from sweeping Saturday's baseball doubleheader, Cornell endured a tough 5-4 Game 2 loss in 10 innings and settled for a costly Midwest Conference split with Knox at Blodgett Field.
Sophomore Brett Potter (SO/Glendale Heights, Ill.) fired seven sharp innings of three-hit ball in Cornell's 3-2 Game 1 victory.
The Rams (12-19 overall) remained in third place in the MWC South standings at 9-8. They host the Prairie Fire (3-23 overall, 1-15 South) for a noon Senior Day doubleheader Sunday at Ash Park.
Knox scored all seven of its runs Saturday after the sixth inning. With the Rams taking a 3-0 lead into the bottom of the ninth in Game 1, sophomore reliever Preston Wright (SO/Orlando, Fla.) stopped a late Prairie Fire rally to earn a two-inning save, his second of the year.
Potter worked seven scoreless innings, striking out four and walking one. He improved to 3-1 on the season.
The Rams scored an unearned run in the fourth, got a sacrifice fly from James Kent (SO/Phoenix, Ariz.) in the seventh and an RBI groundout from Jeremy Canfield (SR/Downers Grove, Ill.) in the eighth.
Cornell was limited to four hits in the opener and left 10 runners on base.
The Rams received another quality pitching start in Game 2 from sophomore Carter Kriegel (SO/Tama, Iowa), who yielded just four hits and no earned runs through seven innings. Kriegel struck out nine and left the game with a 3-1 lead.
Knox sent the game to extras with two runs in the ninth on an RBI single and a wild pitch, both with two outs. The Rams answered in the top of the 10th with a two-out RBI hit by Thomas Jones (SR/Lindenhurst, Ill.) that scored Darren Mancke (FR/Oswego, Ill.) and put the Rams up 4-3.
The Prairie Fire retaliated again in the bottom of the 10th. The home team tied it on a bases-loaded walk and plated the winning run on a sacrifice fly to right field.
Carson Behrens (SR/Davenport, Iowa) and Mancke had two hits apiece to lead Cornell's lineup. Leadoff batter Caleb Sass (SR/Iowa City, Iowa) had an RBI double and extended an impressive streak of reaching base safely to 21 straight games.
