JACKSONVILLE, Ill. – Baseball got the 2025 season underway with a doubleheader split against Illinois College on Sunday, Feb. 23. The Blueboys took game one 15-5 and then the Knights won game two 12-4.
Game Summary
- Game One
- First Inning
- Illinois College got on the board first with one run across in the first inning
- Second Inning
- Keegan Schmitt led off the second inning with a double and then scored to tie the game the next at bat after Gehrig Turner singled
- The Blueboys scored another run in the bottom half to retake the lead 2-1
- Third Inning
- Wartburg tied the game at 2-2 when Schmitt hit a single that brought home Zach Walton
- Fifth Inning
- Carter Stubitz hit a solo shot home run to put the Knights ahead 3-2 in the top half of the inning
- IC answered in the bottom half of the fifth with one run following an RBI-single
- Sixth Inning
- Wartburg went deep again in the sixth inning when Will Armstrong hit a solo shot to give Wartburg a 4-3 lead
- Illinois College responded with a four hit and four run bottom half of the inning
- Seventh Inning
- IC scored five more runs in the seventh to expand the lead to 12-4
- Eighth Inning
- Andrew Robinson pinch hit and hit a sacrifice fly to score Cole Grider
- Illinois College scored three runs in the bottom of the eighth to close out a 15-5 win
- Game Two
- First Inning
- After an Armstrong walk, Walton blasted a two-run home run to give Wartburg an early 2-0 lead
- A wild pitch brought in two more scores for the Knights to make it 4-0 after the top of the first
- The Blueboys got one run back in the bottom half to make the score 4-1
- Second Inning
- Walton added another run when a sacrifice fly brought home Grider
- Third Inning
- Griffin Troha walked and later scored a few at bats later after a fielding error
- An RBI single in the bottom of the third cut Wartburg's lead to 6-2
- Fifth Inning
- Schmitt and Armstrong both scored in the fifth after Stubitz reached base on an error
- Charlie Krueger doubled down the left field line to bring across one run before a balk brought in a second run to make the score 10-2
- IC scored another run in the bottom half to cut the Knights' lead to seven
- Seventh Inning
- Troha singled to bring home Walton and then back-to-back hit by pitches brought in Turner to make the score 12-3
- The Blueboys scored one more run in the bottom of the seventh, but the game was called due to darkness after the seventh inning
Top Performers
Notes/Streaks
- First career RBI for Schmitt, Turner and Krueger
- First career HR for Armstrong
- Second career RBI for Robinson
- 27th career HR for Walton
- Ninth career HR for Stubitz
- Fourth career win on the mound for Nicholas Nin
Coaches Comments
I was really happy with how the team adjusted between game one and game two today," said head coach
Casey Klunder. "It felt like we were uncharacteristically tentative in game one but in game two we were much more aggressive and confident on both sides of the ball.
We were able to trade punches with Illinois College in game one, but we were unable to take advantage of late opportunities and they took control with a big inning," continued Klunder. "I thought Ciero pitched well in game one against a veteran IC offense and in game two Nin pitched one his best games in the past two seasons."
Klunder mentioned some key players from both games, "I thought both
Gehrig Turner and
Keegan Schmitt had good days for us and came up with some key plays to help us win game two," "It was also good to see Armstrong swing the bat the way he did today after not being able to get as many at bats as he wanted to last season."
Next Time Out
The Knights will be in action next beginning on Monday, Mar. 3 for seven games in Florida at the RussMatt Invitational.
