JACKSONVILLE, ILL.—The tail-end of a three-game neutral-site series with Elmhurst College in Jacksonville, Illinois was upon the Illinois Institute of Technology baseball team on Sunday. The Scarlet Hawks had things under control with a 6-3 lead after the fourth inning, which ignited a Blue Jays squad that responded with four home runs over the final five innings. Those four home runs accumulated in 11 runs, which propelled Elmhurst to a 16-7 victory over Illinois Tech.
The Scarlet Hawks fall to 0-6 while Elmhurst stays unbeaten at 4-0.
The Bluejays set the tone with a pair of first-inning runs before Illinois Tech one upped them with three in the bottom half of the frame. Zachary Dickey's sacrifice fly that plated Michael Courtney (walked) cut the Scarlet Hawks' deficit to 2-1 before Ted Howell gave his team a 3-2 edge with a single that drove in Nick Bledsoe (walk) and Orlando Cardenas-Juan (single). The Bluejays knotted the score at 3-3 with a second-inning run.
Zachary Dickey and Orlando Cardenas-Juan each registered their second home runs of the season for Illinois Tech in the fourth inning, which accounted for all three runs scored in the frame to push their advantage to 6-3.
That lead went by the wayside as Elmhurst tallied 13 runs over the final five innings, with 11 of them coming off a home run. Jonathan Mays and Jordan Scrimpsher each tallied a pair of home runs for the Bluejays over those five innings to help them secure a 16-7 victory. The Bluejays finished the contest with five home runs, which includes Tyler Kledzik's two-run home run in the first inning.
Cardenas-Juan went 4-for-5 at the dish along with three runs scored for Illinois Tech, while Bledsoe registered a 2-for-4 outing. Cardenas-Juan, Dickey and Howell each drove in a pair of runs for Illinois Tech. Ian Duke, Austin Richardson, Zac Lis and Wyatt Ronek all saw pitching time for the Scarlet Hawks, and combined to strikeout nine batters.
Illinois Tech will face Caltech (DH) in Pasadena, California on Saturday, March 14 at 1:00 p.m. (CT).