MONMOUTH, Ill. - Grinnell College's baseball team built its lead even larger in the Midwest Conference South Division standings Thursday, sweeping Monmouth College 5-2 and 16-10. 
  
The wins pushed the Pioneers to 7-2 in the league, well ahead of the runner-up Fighting Scots' mark of 3-3. Grinnell is 10-12 overall and Monmouth fell to 14-8-1. 
  
Grinnell got contributions from everyone in the 10-hit first game, as every starting position player got a hit including a two-hit performance by Quinton McNitt '21. 
  
Brock Weirather '21 and Thompson Rick '21 combined to shut down Monmouth's bats. Weirather, the winning pitcher, scattered six hits and fanned four batters in 8-1/3 innings. Rick tossed the final two outs for the save. 
  
Grinnell broke a scoreless tie in the third inning as Brad Weaver '18 scored when Sam Galanek '18 hit into a double play. The Fighting Scots answered with two runs in the bottom of the third before Grinnell tied the game in the fourth when Jared Booth '21 scored on an error. 
  
The Pioneers went ahead 3-2 in the eighth on Booth's RBI single to center, and Carson Gampell '20 added a two-run single to right in the ninth for some insurance. 
  
Grinnell pounded out 15 hits in the second game, including four by Galanek and three each by Andrew Shults '19 and Gampell. Galanek had six RBIs and two doubles and Weaver added five RBIs. 
  
Galanek had an RBI single in the first, but Monmouth tied it in the bottom of the inning. Gampell hit a two-run single in the second inning to put the Pioneers ahead for good and hit an RBI single in the fourth to push the Pioneers ahead 4-1. 
  
Monmouth closed within 4-2 in the bottom of the fourth before Grinnell went wild. Weaver blasted a three-run homer in the fifth inning and Galanek had an RBI single to make it 8-2. In the sixth, Weaver walked with the bases loaded, McNitt pushed across a run on a fielder's choice and later scored on a wild pitch and Galanek hit a two-run double to make it 13-2. 
  
After the Fighting Scots closed within 13-10, Weaver hit an RBI single in the eighth and Galanek a two-run double to account for the final score. 
  
Rick was the winning pitcher, striking out four and giving up nine hits in six innings of work. 
  
Galanek moved up Grinnell's career chart in a handful of categories Thursday. He is now fifth in RBIs with 91 and putouts with 518, eighth in chances with 567 and 10th in total bases with 194. Shults moved up to 10th in career stolen bases with 27. 
  
The teams are slated to play another twin bill Sunday in Grinnell, starting at 1 p.m.