GRINNELL, Iowa – One week after getting some thrilling wins over Illinois College, the Grinnell College baseball team continued that trend Saturday.
 
The Pioneers out-endured Monmouth College in 11 innings for a 7-6 win in the opening game at Pioneer Park. The Fighting Scots salvaged the split, though, taking the second game 8-6.
 
Grinnell is now 5-1 in the Midwest Conference and 11-8 overall, while Monmouth moved to 1-1 in the league and 7-8 overall.
 
In the bottom of the 11th of the opener, Matt Hammond '17 was hit by a pitch and was sacrificed to second by Julian Cabrera '19. After Brad Weaver '18 was intentionally walked, Shane Comiskey '18 delivered an RBI single down the right-field line for the game-winner.
 
Sam Galanek '18 had three hits in the game for Grinnell and Hammond added two. Gabriel Shubert '20, the fourth Pioneer pitcher, picked up the win. He tossed scoreless ball and struck out two in two innings.
 
The game was scoreless through five innings before Grinnell scored three runs in the sixth on Galanek's RBI double to right-center and Weaver's two-run double down the left-field line.
 
The Pioneers made it 5-0 in the seventh on Hammond's RBI single up the middle and Weaver's run-scoring single to left.
 
Monmouth roared back, though, scoring a run in the eighth and five in the ninth for a 6-5 lead.
 
The Pioneers came through to force extra innings, though. Niko Takayesu '17 walked, took second on a balk, moved to third on Andrew Shults' '19 sacrifice and scored on another balk.
 
After a scoreless 10th inning, Grinnell delivered its magic in the 11th.
 
Carson Gampell '20 and Benjamin Wong '18 each had two hits for Grinnell in the second game, which Monmouth led 6-0 through three innings.
 
The Pioneers cut the gap in half in the sixth on RBI groundouts by Hammond and Galanek as well as a passed ball.
 
Monmouth tallied twice in the seventh before Grinnell scored in the bottom of the inning on Takayesu's sacrifice fly.
 
The Pioneers got runs in each of the next two innings on Gampell's RBI groundout and Takayesu's RBI double to left-center. Noah Mathews '17 was the pitcher of record for Grinnell.
 
During the two games, Hammond moved to fourth on the Pioneers' single-season RBI chart with 39.
 
Grinnell and Monmouth meet Sunday on the latter's field for a twin bill. The first pitch is at 1 p.m.