NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- After enduring a three-rain delay and a change of venue, the Illinois Wesleyan baseball team suffered an 8-7, 10-inning loss to North Central in the first championship game of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin postseason tournament on Saturday, May 11.

Illinois Wesleyan has a 24-19 record after the loss and an earlier-day 8-2 win over Millikin University to advance to the first title game.

Evan Hill, Dan Trudeau and Rory Mulvihill limited the Big Blue to eight hits in the morning win. Hill (1-2) struck out four in five innings to get the win and Mulvihill earned his first save of the year, tossing scoreless ball over the final three innings and allowing one hit.

Freshman rightfielder Evan Ranneklev had three hits with a double and scored three times, junior second baseman Brandon Skopick had a pair of hits as did junior third baseman Dalton Fletcher, who also scored twice.

The second game, which started at Zimmerman Stadium in Naperville was moved due to rain in the fifth inning to the turfed Lee Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream, where the game resumed after a three-hour transportation and rain delay.
In the bottom of the ninth against North Central, IWU had a 7-6 lead with two outs and no one on base before two walks and a single tied the game at 7-7. The Cardinals got a walk, an intentional walk, and a man hit by pitch to load the bases before a walk-off fielder's choice. Senior Nick Brune (5-3), the seventh IWU pitcher of the game, took the loss.

Ten Titans contributed a total of 13 hits in the game with two each coming from Skopick, senior shortstop Stephen Billington and senior catcher Seth Palmby. Junior Jeran Simpson drove home two runs with a single in a five-run fifth inning that staked IWU to a 7-5 lead.

North Central (31-11) has the automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Baseball Championships and the selection show for all teams will air on Monday, May 13 at 11 a.m. on NCAA.com.