Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 MONMOUTH, Ill. - After crushing numerous opponents in recent weeks, Grinnell College's baseball team hit a slight speedbump Saturday with a doubleheader setback at Monmouth College.

Grinnell scored four runs in the top of the first inning of the opener, but the Fighting Scots countered with 13 tallies in the bottom on their way to a 25-10, seven-inning victory.

Grinnell managed 12 hits in the game, with Joe Chanis '27, Nikolas Ruden '26 and Wyatt Raymond '28 getting two apiece. Four Grinnell pitchers combined for five strikeouts, with Jonathan Gaynor '26 fanning four in 3.2 innings.

The Pioneers' first-inning runs came on an RBI double by Ruden and three-run homer from Connor Goodson '26. After the Fighting Scots went ahead 18-4, Chanis hit an RBI single in the fourth inning and another run crossed on an error. Mitch Baek '29 belted his first collegiate homer in the fifth, a two-run shot that made it 18-8. The Pioneers concluded their scoring in the sixth on Raymond's two-run homer.

Monmouth broke out to a 22-1 lead through four innings of the second game on its way to a 23-8, seven-inning victory. Grinnell, 12-4 in the Midwest Conference and 18-15 overall, managed seven hits with Ruden, Goodson and Baek getting two apiece. Pioneer reliever Ben Blier '29 had an impressive effort, throwing one-hit ball and striking out two over the final three innings.

Grinnell fell behind 5-0 before the Pioneers got on the board in the second inning on Jacob Gaynor's '28 bases-loaded walk. But Monmouth, 9-8 in the MWC and 13-19 overall, then erupted for 17 consecutive runs. 

The Pioneers answered with three runs in the fifth inning on Baek's three-run homer, got four more in the sixth on Ruden's three-run dinger and Goodson's solo homer and scored once more in the seventh on a balk.

During the games, Raymond moved up to fifth on GC's season-best list for homers with 11 and Ruden jumped to seventh for runs scored with 40. Goodson and Ruden are now fifth and ninth for RBIs in a season with 49 and 46, respectively. Ruden is eighth in total bases with 91 and Goodson 10th with 88. Goodson is also eighth in double plays turned with 25.

On the career list, Ruden is sixth in runs scored with 116 and ninth in total bases with 233, whlie Goodson is fourth for homers with 22, eighth in total bases with 235 and ninth in RBIs with 97. Stuart Cash '27 is ninth for stolen bases with 40 and in fielding, Goodson now ranks third in putouts with 709, fourth in chances with 749 and sixth in double plays turned with 61.

The teams meet again Sunday, beginning at noon.