Ray Gerard Leads Monmouth Baseball Pitching Staff

Although Monmouth College has Ray Gerard listed as a utility player on the roster, Ray has found his main spot to be on the mound by going 4-0 and leading the Scots in ERA (based on more than 10 innings pitched this season).

Gerard, who is a 6'2" sophomore from Bloomington Illinois, is currently 4-0 with a 3.09 ERA in 43 and 2/3rd's innings pitched.  Ray is also on the leader board in several categories in the Division 3 Midwest Conference, third in ERA, third in batting average against at .224, fourth in innings pitched and third in strikeouts with 37. 

Division III Midwest Conference Baseball News

News and Notes from Illinois teams in the Midwest Conference..

Monmouth College
Monmouth has started the season 5-11, but is an impressive 4-2 at home. Led by pitcher Corey Gruber’s 2.58 ERA and 3-1 performance on the mound, the Scots have also seen strong performances at the plate from Tom Shaver and Terry Davis, who have batted in 12 and 10 runs, respectively.

Illinois College
Illinois College has had a strong start to the season, boasting a 8-5 record and picking up two wins against MWC division foe Knox. Ian Vandeford and Adam Baran lead the way for the Blueboys. Baran totals 12 RBIs and is tied for second with Vandeford with 2 HRs. Vandeford is also batting .396 and has started all 13 games for Illinois College.

Knox College
Knox dropped two games to Illinois College in its MWC opener and has started the season 6-7. Junior Bob Dempster has notched 12 RBI’s on the year with one home run. Junior Colin Davis has handled a load of the pitching duties for the Prarie Fire, going 1-2 in three starts with a 3.05 ERA.
 

Monmouth Baseball Wins its First

Baseball in Illinois News

After starting the season off 0-7 Monmouth College pulled out a 4-3 win over Macalester College by scoring twice in the bottom ninth.  Chaz Baggio led off with a dinger and after two walks Mitch Comstock drove in the winning run with a single.

Tim Ryan picked up the win in relief going 1 1/3rd innings without allowing a baserunner.

Monmouth to Challeng Knox and Illinois College for 2010 Midwest Conference Baseball Crown

2009 proved to be a pivotal year in the MWC as the conference earned two NCAA bids, neither of which went to traditional power Ripon. St. Norbert snagged a controversial Pool C bid based largely on their incredible strength of schedule while the Beloit Buccaneers swiped the Pool A bid with an unforeseen run through the league.

Much like the Civil War, the power in this conference lies in the North. As the waters of the MWC begin to clear this season, it appears that Beloit will again be the team to beat as they return their entire line-up from that NCAA experienced 2009 squad. The Bucs are lead by junior pitcher/utility player Mike Kovach(Plainfield, Illinois - Joliet Catholic) who landed on the D3baseball.com pre-season team as an Honorable Mention utility player. St. Norbert counters with 2009 MWC player of the year Jared Yost (.465, 13 2B). Still, never count out a Ripon squad that, except for a slight bobble in 2009, has owned this conference.

In the South Division, Monmouth returns four all-league selections and looks to challenge Knox and Illinois College for the South Division crown. Do not sleep on Grinnell who returns 21 players from a solid 2009 and has upgraded its roster with top-notch recruits for the 2010 season. That being said, the South is the weaker of the two divisions in the MWC and the North will prevail in the end.