Box Score

WHEATON, Ill. – The Illinois Wesleyan baseball team secured a sweep of Wheaton in the season's first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin doubleheader Saturday (March 30) at Wheaton, Ill. The Titans won the first game, 7-2, and fought hard for a 13-12 victory in the second.
 
IWU is now 10-4 overall and 3-0 in the conference, while Wheaton drops to 4-13, 0-3.
 
First Game

IWU exploded 7-2 against the Thunder in the first game of the doubleheader with two home runs coming from sophomore designated hitter Nick Hahn, who had three RBI along with senior Kevin Callahan.

♦  The Titans opened the game strong, as Hahn hammered a homer to left field to put IWU on the board, 1-0.
♦  The momentum carried over to the third inning, when Callahan doubled to right field, scoring A.J. Nathan and Tim Coonan, bumping IWU ahead 3-0.
♦  Wheaton, however, got on the board in the fourth when Justin Swider ran in due to an error to put the score at 3-1.
♦  IWU's Nathan doubled to right center to score Hahn, 4-1, in the fifth inning.
♦  Wheaton responded in the seventh when Desmond Cato scored, 4-2, on an RBI double by Phil Tuttle.
♦  The Titans finished the game strong, with a home run from Callahan in the eighth and then the second homer from Hahn in the ninth to also knock in Johnathan Erickson, putting the score at 7-2.
♦  Starter Jeff Johnson improved to 3-0 as he pitched seven innings and struck out five while senior Nick Mehn worked two scoreless frames to earn a save.
 
Second Game

A fourth-inning explosion by IWU helped the Titans propel past Wheaton in the second game of Saturday, 13-12.

♦  Similar to the first game, IWU opened strong, scoring in the first when Hahn singled through the right side to score Coonan, 1-0, but the Thunder responded with three in the first to go ahead, 3-1.
♦  In the second, IWU's Josh Levy homered to left center, to make to score to 3-2 but  Wheaton answered with four runs in the second to go up, 7-2.
♦  IWU exploded in the top of the fourth, putting seven more runs on the board to jump ahead, 9-7, with scores from Jon Frericks, Anthony Lopez, Matt Workman, Josh Levy, Coonan, Nathan, and Hahn.
♦  In the bottom of the fifth, the Thunder went on an offensive run, scoring four runs to take a 12-9 lead.
♦  The score remained untouched until the top of the eighth inning when IWU's Coonan doubled to center field, scoring Workman and Levy. Coonan also scored after Erickson singled to center field, tying the game at 12-12.
♦  The Titans scored again in the ninth when Workman singled to the right side, scoring Lopez, putting IWU ahead, 13-12.
♦  IWU used six pitchers and got effective scoreless outings from Anthony Kopp (three strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings), winning hurler Mehn (2/3 inning) and sophomore John Munyon (1 inning), who got the save.
 
What's Next?

IWU hosts Millikin Tuesday (April 2) at Horenberger Field for a conference doubleheader, beginning at 3 p.m.