BLOOMINGTON, Ill. -- Eight runs split between the sixth and seventh innings lifted the Illinois Wesleyan baseball team to an 11-6 nonconference victory over Knox College at Horenberger Field on Tuesday, April 12. 

The Titans are now four games above .500 at 14-10 overall while the Prairie Fire slipped to 4-10. 

Knox took the lead in the top of the third inning by pushing across two runs on by putting together three singles mixed in with a walk to take a 2-0 lead before Illinois Wesleyan tied the game in the bottom half of the frame on a junior Jarrod Juskiewicz home run over the left field fence. IWU took their first lead of the game in the bottom of the fourth thanks in part to two walks and a fielding error by the shortstop. Knox responded with two runs of their own in the top of the fifth to chase Titan starter Nick Brune out of the game despite eight strikeouts, exiting after five innings of work. 

Trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the sixth, Illinois Wesleyan plated four runs on four hits capped by a Gino Cavalieri double to bring home Matthew Mardis and Ben Manski. The Prairie Fire came back to close the gap in the seventh with two runs to make the score 7-6 before the Titans would respond with four insurance runs of their own with the brunt of the damage being done by a three-run blast coming off the bat of Mardis to put IWU up 11-6. IWU shut down Knox to record the final six outs and notch the victory. 

Mardis led the offensive charge by going 3-for-4 at the plate with three RBI while the top of the Titan order (Cavalieri, John Bosco, and Juskiewicz) each recorded two RBI while combining for seven of the 13 hits. 

Mitch Goll (2-2) earned the pitching victory, coming on in relief for Brune and throwing four innings and striking out three. 

What's Next?
Illinois Wesleyan closes out a three-game conference series against North Park by heading to Chicago to take on the Vikings at 4 p.m. on Wednesday, April 13. In last week's doubleheader, the Titans won game one 20-16 and took the nightcap 8-6.