MOLINE, Ill. -- Illinois Wesleyan scored a run on an error in the bottom of the 10th inning to defeat North Central, 9-8, and stay alive in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin baseball tournament at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field in Moline, Ill., on Saturday, May 14.

The Titans are 24-18 and will play top-seed Augustana (29-12) in the CCIW championship game at 10 a.m. Sunday, May 15. If necessary there will be a second game 30 minutes after the first game.

Illinois Wesleyan jumped out to a 4-0 lead after one and 5-0 after two before the Cardinals tied the game at 5-5 in the third. With the game knotted at 8-8 after six, the teams played three scoreless innings before IWU won the game in the last of the 10th.
With one out, freshman designated hitter Jacob Houghton singled down the leftfield line and went to second when sophomore second baseman Gino Cavalieri was hit by a pitch. Freshman leftfielder John Bosco, who had four hits in the game, hit a grounder to short and Cavalieri was forced at second, but the second baseman's throw to complete the play was errant, allowing Houghton to score the game-winning unearned run.

Junior shortstop Jarrod Juskiewicz had four hits with three doubles and four runs batted in to spur a 16-hit Titan attack. In his last five games, Juskiewicz is hitting .640 (16 of 25) with six doubles, one homer and 12 runs batted in.
Senior third baseman Matthew Mardis raised his team-high average to .400 with three hits and two RBI.

Sophomore lefty Ben Rashid (2-1), the fourth IWU hurler of the afternoon, pitched the 10th inning and got the win. Junior righthander Louis Acklin pitched five scoreless innings to slow the North Central offense that had eight runs on eight hits off the first two Titan pitchers.