Mount Vernon, IA – The Prairie Fire bounced back from a tough opening game to win the finale of a doubleheader with Cornell College on Saturday.
Cornell, the top hitting team in the Midwest Conference with a .355 batting average, defeated Knox 14-4 in the first contest. The Prairie Fire gained a split by taking the nightcap 8-4.
Knox (11-6, 4-2 MWC South) remains tied for first place in the Midwest Conference South Division with Illinois College after the Blueboys (9-11, 4-2 MWC South) split a twinbill at Grinnell College on Saturday.
Cornell (6-11, 1-1 MWC South) banged out 14 hits in the first game against the Prairie Fire. Knox took a 1-0 lead with a run in the top of the third on an RBI single by senior Caleb Weaver (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg) (Galesburg, IL, Galesburg).
The Rams answered with four runs in the bottom half of the third off of Prairie Fire sophomore starting pitcher Nathaniel Grady (Antelope, CA, Oakmont) (2-2) to grab a 4-1 lead. Three of the four runs were unearned.
Cornell doubled in one run and singled in two more in the fourth inning for a 7-1 advantage. Knox got a run back in the top of the fifth on a single by sophomore Erik Smoy (Hoffman Estates, IL, Hoffman Estates) that scored junior Phil Tallman (Park Ridge, IL, Maine South) to make it a 7-2 game.
The Rams dashed any hopes of a comeback by the Prairie Fire with four more runs in the fifth to go up 11-2, ending Grady's afternoon. He allowed 11 runs; five of them earned, 11 hits, four walks, and struck out four.
First-year Mitch Weissenhofer (Homewood, IL, Marian Catholic) belted his first home run of the season with one out in the sixth for the third Knox run of the game.
Cornell tallied its last three runs in the bottom of the sixth before the Prairie Fire concluded the scoring on an RBI groundout by senior Kyle Walenga (San Francisco, CA, Waldorf) with one out and the bases loaded that scored Weaver.
Knox had 10 hits, led by Weaver's three. Tallman, Smoy, and Walenga contributed with two hits apiece while Weissenhofer scored two of the Prairie Fire's four runs.
Knox took control early in the second game with a four run first inning.
Weaver got it started with an RBI single. Smoy followed suit with a single to drive in a run, Walenga made it 3-0 with a run scoring double, and the fourth run crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly by sophomore Andrew Sparrow (Sullivan, IL, Sullivan).
Prairie Fire junior starting pitcher Paul Mills (Moline, IL, Moline) had a solid outing. He surrendered single tallies in the first and second innings to Cornell before settling in and blanking the Rams until the sixth.
A sacrifice fly by Weissenhofer scored senior Ryan Hoffman (Sugar Grove, IL, Marmion Academy) for a 5-2 Knox advantage in the top of the sixth. Mills gave up a single in the bottom of the sixth and made way for junior Bryan Leslie (Richmond, IL, Richmond-Burton). Leslie retired the next two Cornell hitters on pop ups before a two out double trimmed the Prairie Fire lead to 5-3. Leslie struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Knox added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh frame on hits by Smoy and Hoffman, and then put the eighth run on the board on an RBI single by Tallman in the top of the eighth.
The Rams managed a run of their own in the bottom of the ninth off of junior reliever Dustin Armstrong (Cincinnati, OH, Country Day), the first earned run he's allowed all season.
Mills (2-1) earned the win after tossing five innings and giving up three runs, two of them earned, five hits, four walks and struck out four.
Leslie pitched two scoreless innings with two strikeouts for the Prairie Fire. Senior Gabe Ayers (Hanna City, IL, Farmington) retired the three batters he faced, one by strikeout, in the bottom of the eighth.
Knox outhit Cornell 12-11.
Weaver had his second straight three hit game to go along with an RBI and two runs scored for the Fire. Hoffman also had three hits, drove in a run, and scored twice. Smoy chipped in with two hits, two RBIs, and two runs while Walenga and Tallman each had two hits and an RBI.