Senior slugger Joey Sprinkle returned to the Monticello baseball lineup Wednesday afternoon and Jack Buckalew had a big afternoon helping Monticello down Villa Grove 9-2 in non-conference high school boy's baseball action Wednesday in Villa Grove.

Buckalew threw two scoreless innings of relief and all six outs were strikeouts. He also laced three doubles to pace the Sages offense. 

Sprinkle, who missed the Monday season opener against LeRoy to rest after being in action for the basketball team's state title run in Champaign, was among a trio of Sages with a multi-hit afternoon.

Luke Teschke started on the mound forthe Sages throwing two scoreless innings with five strikeouts. The Sages sophomore also had two hits.

Thomas Swartz and Dawlton Chupp had two RBIs apiece.

Monticello starts the season 2-0 and will travel to southern Illinois this weekend for its annual spring break trip and will start a scheduled four-game weekend with a matchup at Vienna.