MONMOUTH, Ill. — Brett Kiger put a punctuation mark on a pair of lop-sided Beloit College victories at Monmouth College by walloping his way to two home-run records.
After the Buccaneers won the opening game 14-3 in eight innings, Kiger launched a pair of bombs as they rolled to an 11-0 victory in the nightcap at Glasgow Field.
Kiger’s first homer was his 43rd career dinger and broke the Midwest Conference career record. His second homer, No. 44, was his 16th this season and broke his own single-season Beloit record.
“These records mean a lot to me because growing up I always wanted to be a home run hitter,” Kiger said. “I never hit any home runs in high school, so to be able to have the career I have had at Beloit is something I am extremely proud of.”
The transformation into a collegiate slugger didn’t happen overnight. Weight-training definitely paid off.
“Brett Kiger was a good high school player (at Beloit Memorial) and he has become an exceptional college player,” Beloit head coach Dave DeGeorge said. “I think it’s remarkable the improvement he made as an athlete. When he’s on time, he hammers baseballs.
“That record of 44 homers, I don’t see anyone breaking that in my lifetime.”
The Bucs improved to 21-13 overall and 14-9 in the MWC. Monmouth slipped to 15-17 and 8-11). The third game of the series was scheduled to be played in Beloit on Sunday, but an unfavorable weather forecast caused the finale to be played Monday at 3:30 p.m.
The Bucs have secured a position in the four-team MWC Tournament at No. 1 seeded Lawrence in Appleton next week.
“We’re the No. 3 seed right now and we could move to two depending on the outcomes of games this week,” DeGeorge said. “Most likely we’ll finish third. Second and this place play each other in the tournament so it really doesn’t matter.”
Kiger didn’t homer in the first game, but his teammates hit five. Matt O’Leary and Nolan Tomsyck each hit two homers and Evan Zenger had a solo blast.
After O’Leary homered in the top of the first, Monmouth tied it in the bottom of the inning. Beloit answered with seven runs in the second inning, one in the fourth, two in the fifth and three in the seventh. O’Leary hit a two-run shot in the second and Tomsyck added a two-run blast in the fifth. Zenger and Tomsyck both hit solo shots in the seventh.
O’Leary finished 3-for-3 with two runs scored and three RBI. Tomsyck was 2-for-3 with three runs scored and three RBI.
Starter Aiden Phipps improved to 7-2, going six innings and allowing nine hits and three runs with four strikeouts. Reliever Tommy Murray got two outs and Kaiya Nishino got the final out.
Beloit belted three more homers in game 2.
After O’Leary reached on an error, Kiger ripped his 15th of the season and 43rd of his career to become the MWC career leader.
In the top of the seventh, Zenger belted his second homer of the day to make it a 7-0 game. Kiger hit his career-best 16th of the season in the top of the eighth.
Ben Schweit pitched seven scoreless innings with three strikeouts to pick up the win. Nishino and Murray finished it up.
• NOTES: Kiger holds a commanding lead in the Bucs’ career home run leaders with his 44. Current teammate O’Leary is second at 25, followed by Garrison Ferone (2023) 19, Michael Ross (2011) and Scott Hallahan (1999) 14, Connor Vogel (2025) 12, Evan Zenger (2024) 11 and Kam Sallee (2017) 11.
• LINESCORES:
Game 1
Beloit 14, Monmouth 3
Beloit 170 120 30 — 14 12 2
Monmouth 100 020 00 — 3 9 3
Leading hitters: BC, Alport 2x4, 2 runs, 2 rbi; Souza 1x5, 1 run, 2 rbi; O’Leary 3x3, 2 runs, 3 rbi; Kiger 1x4, 1 rbi; Zenger 2x4, 2 runs, 2 rbi; Brankey 1x4, 1 run; Tomsyck 2x3, 3 runs, 3 rbi. 2B: Alport, Souza, Kiger. MC, Matkovic 3x4, 1 run; Houck 2x4; Lummus 2x4, 1 run, 1 rbi; Guillermo 2x4, 1 run, 2 rbi. 2B: Matkovic. HR: O’Leary 2, Zenger, Tomsyck 2, Guillermo.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BC, Phipps (W,7-2) 6.0-9-3-3-2-4; Murray 0.2-0-0-0-0-0; Nishino 0.1-0-0-0-0-0. MC, Sharp (L,3-4) 2.0-5-8-7-1-2; Rentschler 5.0-7-6-6-3-1.
Game 2
Beloit 11, Monmouth 0
Beloit 220 002 140 — 11 12 1
Monmouth 000 000 000 — 0 3 4
Leading hitters: BC, Alport 1xt, 1 run; Souza 1x3, 3 runs, 1 rbi; O’Leary 1x5, 2 runs, 1 rbi; Kiger 3x4, 2 runs, 5 rbi; Vogel 2x5; Zenger 2x5, 2 runs, 1 rbi; Brankey 1x4, 1 run, 1 rbi. MC, Stiff ebee, 1x3; Houck 1x3; Keenan 1x3. 2B: Alport, Souza, Brankey. HR: Kiger 2, Zenger.
Pitching (ip-h-r-er-bb-so): BC, Schweit (W,4-1) 7.0-3-0-0-3-3; Nishino 0.1-0-0-0-0-0; Murray 0.2-0-0-0-0-1. MC, Turnquist (L,2-3) 5.2-8-6-2-2-4; Ralston 2.1-4-5-3-2-3.
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