LEBANON, Ill. – The Bearcats hosted the William Jewell College Cardinals on Thursday, April 17th and Friday, April 18th in a four-game GLVC series. McKendree improved their record to 14-24 (12-12 GLVC) with the series sweep by the scores of 14-4 (F/7), 10-3. 7-4 and 10-3. They now sit in the tied for 8th spot in the GLVC standings with two weeks of regular season play left before the GLVC tournament.
Game 1 – Thursday, April 17th
The Cardinals got on the board first in the top half of the opening inning with a sacrifice fly and a fielding error by the McKendree pitcher to make it 2-0. McKendree answered with four runs in the bottom of the 2nd. Isaiah Hoelscher reached on a fielder's choice that scored Kaid Muth. A few batters later, Max Meuli laced a double to right field that brought Hoelscher around to score. As the lineup flipped back to the top of the order, Hunter Sherman hit a sacrifice fly to score Chyran Cruse. Sage McMinn drew a bases loaded walk to cap the scoring in the inning.
WJC tied at 4 in the top of the 3rd with a 2-run home run. McKendree took the lead back by adding two runs in bottom of the 4th, Harrison Toone took the first pitch of the at-bat over the center field wall to make it 5-4. McMinn hit a double to right center that brought Peyton Bittle home to score to give the Bearcats the 6-4 lead. In the bottom of the 5th, Meuli and Toone hit back-to-back RBI doubles that extended the lead to 8-4. Bittle made it 9-4 as he reached on a fielding error by the WJC 3rd baseman that brought Toone home.
As the game moved to the bottom of the 6th, McKendree used two more RBI doubles by Cruse and Toone to make it a 13-4 contest. Kaid Muth enacted the run rule with a solo home run in the bottom of the 7th.
Mitchell Alba got the win throwing the complete game, striking out five and only allowing four runs.
Game 2 – Thursday, April 17th
The Bearcat bats remained hot in the 2nd game of the series as Bittle and McMinn used RBI doubles to put McKendree up 2-0 in the bottom of the first. Noah Shuman gave the Bearcats a third run with an RBI single through the left side to score McMinn. The lead quickly became 5-0 as Bittle scored on a passed ball and Muth hit a solo blast to left field.
After WJC got on the board with a solo home run, Bittle hit a solo home run of his own in the bottom of the 4th. Muth launched his second home run of the game and third of the day to make it 8-1 Bearcats. Meuli used an infield single to score two runs to make it 10-1 McKendree. WJC added two more runs to end the offense and the final score.
Cody Bledsoe got the win of the mound with the complete game, striking out 3 and only allowing three runs.
Game 3 – Friday, April 18th
Game three of the series saw the Cardinals jump out to a 2-0 lead with two solo home runs in the top of the 2nd. McKendree got on the board with a Sherman RBI single to center field that score Meuli. With two runners on, Bittle took the second pitch of the at-bat over the left center field fence to give McKendree the 4-2 lead in the bottom of the 3rd.
The next inning, Meuli hit a two-run blast of his own to make it 6-2 Bearcats. WJC got back to within two runs at 6-4 with a 2-run home run in the top of the 5th. McKendree ended the scoring as Sage McMinn scored on a wild pitch to make it 7-4.
The Bearcats got their third consecutive complete game win of the series. Trey Cole went the distance, striking out 4, allowing eight hits and four runs.
Game 4 – Friday, April 18th
Looking for the series sweep, the Bearcats got on the board early and often in the final game of the series. After WJC made it 1-0 in the top of the first, Sherman belted a line drive down the left field line to tie it at 1. Later in the inning, Muth produced an effective out that scored Bittle. Shuman hit a two-run home run to left field that made it 4-1 McKendree. In the bottom of the 2nd, Tyler Butash in his first at-bat of the week deposited a 2-2 pitch beyond the left field fence to make it 5-1. Sherman finished the inning with his second home run in as many innings that made it 6-1 Bearcats.
Through 5.5 innings, McKendree was still leading 6-3 before Sherman doubled to left field to score Toone. Bittle hit an RBI single up the middle to make it 8-3. McMinn followed suit with a single to center field that scored Bittle.
Bittle capped off the scoring with a single to left field to make it 10-3.
Peyton Apps got the win in relief going two innings and not allowing a run. Luke Aubuchon got the save throwing the final four innings, striking out five and only allowing a run.
