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NCAA Division III Central Regional Web Site

MILLINGTON, Tenn. - Chris Bobo scattered seven hits in 8 1/3 innings as Illinois Wesleyan shut out DePauw 6-0 before losing 9-7 to Birmingham Southern to be eliminated from the NCAA Division III Central Regional tournament at USA Stadium in Millington, Tenn., on Friday (May 18).

Illinois Wesleyan season ends with a 31-17 record. With the win, the Panthers improved to 38-8 and will have a chance to play Webster on Saturday for the regional title. It would take two BSC wins to earn that as they took a 6-1 loss to Webster earlier Friday.

In the win against DePauw, Bobo, a freshman righthander, struck out two and walked only one as he improved his record to 4-2. Freshman righthander John Munyon recorded the final two outs of the game, inducing DePauw shortstop Zach Starr to hit into a 5-4-3 double play.

The Titans scored three in the fifth and three in the sixth to provide the offense.
In the fifth, senior leftfielder Mark McDermott led off with a walk, went to second on a sacrifice and to third on a wild pitch. After junior Kevin Callahan walked, sophomore Bobby Czarnowski doubled to right center to bring in McDermott. Sophomore centerfielder Jon Frericks then doubled to right center, chasing home Callahan and Czarnowski.

With one out in the sixth, junior shortstop Zach Scott was hit by a pitch and McDermott singled to left. Junior catcher A.J. Nathan singled down the rightfield line to score Scott and send McDermott to third. Nathan stole second to put runners at second and third. After Callahan struck out, Czarnowski delivered his second straight double, bringing in two more runs.

In the loss, Illinois Wesleyan banged out 10 hits with two apiece coming from McDermott, Scott and freshman second baseman Derek Idstein.

The Titans fell behind 4-0 before scoring four in the bottom of the third to tie the game. Junior third baseman Anthony Lopez singled and went to third on a double by Scott. Both runners scored on a McDermott double. McDermott then scored on a double by Nathan, who went to third on a ground out and scored on a sacrifice fly to center by Czarnowski.

IWU pitchers were ineffective except for sophomore Jeff Johnson, the fourth Titan hurler of the night, who worked six scoreless innings, allowing five hits, striking out four and walking two.

A big blow for the Panthers in a five-run fourth inning was a grand slam home run by first baseman Jon Walker.