GALESBURG, Ill. – The Grinnell College baseball team moved into a first-place tie in the Midwest Conference South Division and extended its winning streak to six with a twin bill sweep of Knox College on Monday.
 
Grinnell, 8-4 in the division and 16-15 overall, won by scores of 11-10 and 10-2.
 
Matt Hammond '17, Yuki Kawahara '15 and Michael Slattery '18 all had three hits in the Pioneers' 15-hit attack in the opener.
 
Andrew Mack '18 earned the pitching win and John Essig '16 collected the save.
 
Grinnell got out to a 4-0 lead with solo runs in the second through fifth innings. Matt Godinsky '16 had a solo homer in the second, Graham Fisher '16 added a sacrifice fly in the third, Slattery had an RBI single in the fourth and Godinsky added an RBI fielder's choice in the fifth.
 
Knox scored solo runs in the bottom of the fifth and sixth to make it 4-2. Grinnell had a run in the seventh on Walker Bell's '15 RBI single. Knox added a run in the bottom of the inning.
 
The Pioneers burst for six runs in the eighth with the aid of a two-run double by Matt Hammond '17 and RBI single by Slattery.
 
Knox scored seven runs in the bottom of the inning to complete the scoring.
 
In the second game, Ian Sales '15 tossed seven innings to collect the pitching win.
 
Anthony Mack '16 and Hammond each had three hits for Grinnell.
 
Grinnell scored twice in the third inning on Hammond's two-run single, and added two more runs in the fourth with the aid of Ryan Penaflor's '`15 RBI.
 
After Knox scored in the sixth, Grinnell got a run in the seventh to make it 5-1 when Yuki Kawahara '15 provided an RBI. Knox scored in the bottom of the inning to put the score at 5-2.
 
Grinnell broke the game open with five runs in the eighth as Fisher had a sacrifice fly, Ross Voelker '15 coaxed an RBI walk and Coby Klar '16 hit an RBI single.
 
Grinnell travels to Coe College on Wednesday.