As temperatures begin to warm up, many will be dusting off their gloves, lacing up their cleats, and making bats crack as we near baseball season.
The case is no different for the Monmouth Fighting Scots, who begin 2026 off a 19-win season. The Scots amassed a 12-9 conference record, and a postseason run that ended with losses of 16-4 and 11-4 to Beloit College in the MWC tournament championship series in Appleton, Wisconsin, but not before upsetting the #1-seeded hosts Lawrence University 12-7. This season, the Scots will look to take back series from Knox, Illinois, and Ripon, all teams, while also looking to complete the sweep against teams such as Grinnell, Lawrence, and Beloit, all teams the Scots were one game away from sweeping the series against last season.
On the offensive end of the baseball, the Scots return four players out of eight who were common appearances in the starting lineup last year. Two key returners include senior Clayton Matkovic, who boasted a batting average of .321 in the previous season, registering 43 hits, 30 RBIs, and a home run. The other key returner batting wise is senior outfielder Aiden Parkins, who racked up a .294 batting average last season, earning 32 base hits, five doubles, a triple, and a home run in the process.
On the pitcher’s mound, juniors Ethan Zaayenga and Roy Ralston. Zaayenga had an eventful season last spring, racking up a 5-3 record in 12 appearances and fanning 39 batters in 67 innings pitched. Ralston, on the other hand, comes into this season having struck out 54 batters in 50 innings the year before.
Along with returning strong arms, the Scots have an exciting addition to the pitching staff this year. Girl power, in the form of freshman Sophia Broderick. In Broderick’s senior season at Geneva High School, she pitched a total of eight innings in four relief appearances, fanning nine batters with an ERA of 3.50.
The Monmouth nine will open their season in Carlinville, Illinois, with a doubleheader against Blackburn College on February 21 at 1 and 3:30 p.m. The Scots will then go on their spring break trip two weeks later and play a stretch of games in Florida from March 7-13th before returning home for the first home game against Maranatha Baptist University on March 16 at 3 p.m.