NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Illinois Wesleyan baseball team earned a split in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play at North Central on Saturday, March 30, winning game one by a 5-2 score before falling in the nightcap, 16-9, at Zimmerman Stadium in Naperville, Ill.
 
The Titans are 8-9 overall and 1-2 in the CCIW while the Cardinals are 11-4 overall and 2-1 in the league.
 
In game one, senior Nick Brune (3-1) allowed two runs on five hits with six strikeouts in 7 2/3 innings and sophomore Matt Blaney got his second save of the year, working the final 1 1/3 scoreless innings with two strikeouts.
 
The Titans got early run support with no outs in the first inning when freshman rightfielder Evan Ranneklev smacked a three-run homer to right center to score junior designated hitter Nick Figus and junior shortstop Brandon Skopick, who had reached by a single and a walk, respectively.
IWU tacked on two more runs on two errors and two hits, including a double from junior third baseman Dalton Fletcher.
 
Figus had three hits and Shea and Skopick each had two of the Titans' nine hits in the second game.
The Cardinals, who survived making seven errors in the game, banged out 16 hits, got 10 walks and scored runs in seven of the eight innings, including five in the fifth and four in the seventh.
Sophomore starter Quinn Gudaitis (1-1), the first of four IWU hurlers, was saddled with the loss as he allowed four earned runs on seven hits with five walks and four strikeouts in 3 2/3 innings.
 
What's Next?
The same two teams square off for a 1 p.m. single game at Horenberger Field on Sunday, March 31. Go here to follow live stats.