NIACC splits pair with Illinois Central

PEORIA, Ill. - The NIACC baseball team split a pair of games Saturday against Illinois Central in its first two games of the 2021 season.

NIACC won the first game 8-4 and Illinois Central took the second game 7-2.

In the first game, NIACC scored four runs in the second inning aided by a three-run home run from Ike Mezzenga. The Trojans also plated single runs in the fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh innings of the seven-inning contest.

Nick Lommen picked up his first career win for the Trojans. Lommen struck out five and walked two in four innings of work while allowing two runs on three hits.

Gino Cozzi gained the save for NIACC by pitching the final three innings. Cozzi struck out five and walked one while allowing two runs on two hits.

At the plate, NIACC received RBIs from Mason Nadolney, Jon Koehn, Coby Tweten and Jakob Kouneski. Nadolney, Tweten and Nic Nelson all collected doubles for the Trojans.

In the second game, Illinois Central broke a 1-1 tie with a single run in the fifth inning. The Cougars added one run in the sixth inning and plated four more runs in the seventh inning.

NIACC was only able to add one more run in the seventh inning.

Both of NIACC's runs in the second game came on solo home runs from Logan Milene and Ben Tallman.

NIACC starter Collin Kramer struck out eight and walked seven in 3 2/3 innings. He did not allow a hit and gave up one unearned run in the second inning.

NIACC wraps up a three-game series against Illinois Central with a single game on Sunday. First pitch is slated for noon.