Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 SPRINGFIELD, Ill. – The Grinnell College baseball team bounced back from a 19-14 opening-game loss to defeat Illinois College 5-2 in a Midwest Conference South Division twin bill Sunday.
 
Graham Fisher '16 earned the pitching victory, scattering nine hits over 7-1/3 innings while giving up just one earned run. He struck out three while moving to 4-2 on the season.
 
Ian Sales '15 worked a hitless 1-2/3 innings to earn his first save of the season. He struck out three, as well.
 
Matt Godinsky '16 led the offense with two hits, a homer and double.
 
The Pioneers got out to an early lead, scoring solo runs in the first and second innings. In the first, Anthony Mack '16 singled and was knocked in by Godinsky's double. In the second, Walker Bell '15 singled, went to second on Jacob Beecher's '16 sacrifice bunt, took third on an error and scored when Kainoa Inafuku '14 hit a sacrifice fly.
 
The Blueboys tied the game with two runs in the fourth, but the Pioneers rallied with two runs in the fifth. Inafuku led off with a walk, went to second on a groundout, stole third and scored on Ryan Penaflor's single. Penaflor moved to second on Godinsky's walk and scored when Matt Schaeffer '14 singled.
 
Grinnell closed out the scoring in the eighth on Godinsky's solo homer.
 
Grinnell pounded out 16 hits in the opener, including five by Niko Takayesu '17. That total is one shy of the school record. Penaflor, Mack, Beecher and Teague Towner '17 had two hits each.
 
Towner had a homer among his totals, Takayesu and Mack added triples and Penaflor and Beecher doubles.
 
The Blueboys scored a run in the first, but Grinnell came back with three in the bottom of the inning with the aid of Beecher's two-run double and a sacrifice fly by Matt Hammond '17. The Pioneers upped their lead to 7-1 in the second as Penaflor had an RBI double, Beecher a run-scoring single and Hammond an RBI.
 
The Blueboys struck for three runs in the third to cut the gap to 7-4, but Grinnell got a run back in the bottom of the inning as Mack knocked in a run with a triple.
 
Illinois College tied things with four runs in the fourth, but Grinnell came back with five runs in the bottom of the frame. Penaflor and Hammond each had two-run singles and Towner knocked in another run with a one-bagger.
 
The Blueboys tallied two runs in the sixth inning and another in the seventh to come within 13-11. Grinnell's final run came in the bottom of the seventh on Towner's solo homer.
 
However, the Blueboys struck for eight runs in the eighth to pull out the win.
 
Eli Freese '14 was the pitcher of record for Grinnell.
 
The Pioneers are now 5-3 in the MWC South and 12-14 overall, while Illinois College moved to 7-5 in league play and 18-12 in all games.
 
Grinnell returns to Pioneer Park this coming Saturday to face Knox College in a twin bill. The first pitch is at 1 p.m.