Baseball splits with Knox

Pioneers play Prairie Fire again on Apr. 22, in the heat of the playoff race

by Josh Cooley

It was only the bottom of the second and the Pioneers were down 0-5 to the Prairie Fire.

But after an inning where Kevin Byrne ’06, Chris Villa ’05 and Lenny Gomez ’07 hit back-to-back-to-back doubles, and Gomez stole home, the Pioneers posted the biggest comeback of any team this season in the MWC, reeling off eight unanswered runs before holding on for a 9-8 victory. Grinnell had nine runs on 12 hits and only one error.

But the Pioneers let the second game of the doubleheader get away from them. Grinnell was leading 1-0 after two innings, but Knox took a two run lead in the third inning and never looked back. The Pioneer pitchers struggled, walking eight batters. The Prairie Fire ended up winning 11-5.

“We just didn’t come out and play sharp baseball the entire game,” said co-captain Matt Teeters ‘05.

In their doubleheader this past Tuesday against Central, the Pioneers dropped two non-conference games, leaving their record at 9-13, 1-3 Midwest Conference. In the first game, after scoring three runs in the top of the fifth, Grinnell was up 4-3. But they couldn’t hold their lead, and Central pulled out a 5-4 win in the bottom of the sixth. In the second game, Central defeated Grinnell 11-3.

“We just beat ourselves,” said head coach Tim Hollibaugh of Grinnell’s performance in the second game against Central. “It’s key that you get that first game, so you can get some momentum going,” he added.

On Saturday, the Pioneers will face conference rival Illinois College, in a doubleheader, which according to Teeters will “make or break the season.” On Sunday, the Pioneers square off against Macalester at home. The following Thursday they will play a rematch against conference-rival Knox. The Prairie Fire split their last series with the Pioneers, but the Pioneers, currently ranked 1-3 in the MWC South Division, need to win both games to move up in the conference standings.

“As long as we start rolling along in the conference then we’ll be okay,” said Andrew Pyle ’07. “It’s just a matter of us getting things together and playing to our ability. We know we can play with and beat all the teams in the conference. If we just get a little winning streak going we’ll be all right.”