Box Score 1 | Box Score 2

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – A walk-off balk proved to be the winning play In a bizarre finish to a 10-9 game one win and the Illinois Wesleyan baseball team went on to sweep North Central with a 7-4 win in game two on Saturday (April 6) at Jack Horenberger Field.
 
IWU improves to 16-4 in the season and 7-0 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. The Cardinals drop to 10-10 and 3-4 in the league.
 
Game One
♦   With the Cardinals ahead, 9-5, the Titans pulled out the victory in the ninth, scoring five runs with two outs. Hahn was hit by a pitch and Erickson doubled. Senior Anthony Lopez walked to load the bases, followed by RBI by Bobby Czarnowski (hit by pitch), Workman (walk), Tim Coonan (walk) and Frericks (walk). Matt Hussey was then brought in the game and balked, sending Workman home with the game-winner.
♦   North Central put two runs on the board in the top of the third to get an early 2-0 lead but the Titans responded with an unearned run in the fourth when junior Johnathan Erickson scored when senior Matt Workman reached on an error.
♦   The Cardinals also put an unearned run across in the fifth to extend their lead, 3-1, but IWU fired back with two runs in the fifth as senior catcher A.J. Nathan smacked a two-run home run to left field, scoring Jon Frericks.
♦   Trailing 4-3, sophomore Nick Hahn hit a two-run home run in the seventh to give IWU a 5-4 lead but in the eighth, the Cardinals put three runs on the board to take a 7-5 lead and went ahead 9-5 in the top of the ninth on a two-RBI single by Zac Pacanowski.
♦   Nathan finished with three hits while Hahn, Lopez and Erickson each had two.
♦   IWU freshman pitcher Liam Moore (1-0), who pitched 2/3 of an inning, earned the win, while North Central's Brendan Ryan (1-1) suffered the loss.
 
Game Two
IWU used its momentum to get the 7-4 victory over the Cardinals in the second game of the day.
♦   North Central got on the board in the second, scoring three runs, but the Titans made it 3-2 when they got back-to-back homers in the third from senior first baseman Kevin Callahan and Nathan.
♦   IWU scored again in the fourth when Workman singled up the middle to score Lopez and Erickson, putting the Titans ahead, 4-3.
♦   IWU extended its lead to 5-3 when an Erickson double chased home Hahn.
♦   Callahan and Lopez each had three hits while Nathan, Erickson and Workman each had a pair of hits.
♦   Titan pitcher Jeff Johnson (4-0) earned the win in a complete game nine-hitter, striking out six and walking only one. It is Johnson's third complete game of the season. Kris Singh (3-1) took the loss.
 
What's Next?
The Titans will return to the ballpark tomorrow (Sunday) for a single game at North Central. The game in Naperville, Ill., is set to begin at 1 p.m.