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Dom DilLello swinning at Wheaton
Dave Naprstek
4
Illinois Wesleyan IWU 10-10
11
Winner Carthage College CARTHAGE 10-7
Illinois Wesleyan IWU
10-10
4
Final
11
Carthage College CARTHAGE
10-7
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Illinois Wesleyan IWU 1 1 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 4 7 3
Carthage College CARTHAGE 0 1 0 7 2 0 0 1 X 11 17 2

W: Kutzler (3-1) L: Simon, Hunter (2-1)

5
Winner Illinois Wesleyan IWU 11-10
3
Carthage College CARTHAGE 10-8
Winner
Illinois Wesleyan IWU
11-10
5
Final
3
Carthage College CARTHAGE
10-8
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Illinois Wesleyan IWU 0 0 0 0 0 1 1 1 2 5 9 1
Carthage College CARTHAGE 0 0 0 2 0 0 1 0 0 3 10 2

W: Kraft, Cooper (0-0) L: Rietz (0-0)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Titans Split with Firebirds

Series finale set for tomorrow at 2 p.m.

KENOSHA, Wis. - The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team picked up a 5-3 win over Carthage College Sunday, April 11, at Augie Schmidt Field after the Firebirds claimed an 11-4 win in game one. Illinois Wesleyan advanced to 11-10 overall, 6-7 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while Carthage moved to 10-8, 5-6 CCIW.

Game One: Illinois Wesleyan 4, Carthage 11
IWU finished with seven hits to Carthage's 17, while the two teams combined for five errors. Illinois Wesleyan's seven hits were spread evenly among seven players, with juniors Ethan Burgh (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Prospect), Dominic DiLello (Springfield, Ill.-Sacred Heart Griffin), and Jared Mutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) notching RBIs.

On the mound, senior Hunter Simon (Verona, Ill.-Seneca) suffered his first loss of the season to drop to 2-1 on the year. He tossed the first 4.2 innings, striking out four, while freshman Garrett Swingler (Normal, Ill.-Normal West) made his collegiate debut in relief. The Normal, Ill. native tossed 1.1 hitless and struck out two out of the pen, while Scott Monocchio (Glen Ellyn, Ill.-Glenbard West) finished off the final two innings.

The Titans got out to an early 2-0 lead on Burgh's RBI groundout and Mutter's run-scoring double, but after cutting the IWU lead in half with a run in the second, the Firebirds erupted for seven runs in the fourth. 

Carthage plated seven runs on eight hits in the bottom of the fourth and added two more in the fifth to take a 10-2 lead into the sixth. 

Illinois Wesleyan got one two back on a DiLello RBI single and a Carthage error, but it was not enough to overcome the Firebirds.

Game Two: Illinois Wesleyan 5, Carthage 3
Junior Evan Ranneklev (Naperville, Ill.-Neuqua Valley), DiLello, and junior Jack Schneider (Naperville, Ill.-Benet Academy) led the Titans offensively in game two, picking up two hits apiece. Schneider went 2-for-4 at the plate with two RBIs, while DiLello scored twice in a 2-for-4 effort. Ranneklev finished 2-for-5 with one driven in.

On the mound, senior Matt Blaney (Tinley Park, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) tossed the first seven frames, striking out five, and allowing three runs. Fellow senior Cooper Kraft (Morton, Ill.-Morton), who earned the win, tossed the final two innings, allowing one hit and striking out one.

Carthage used a two-run homer to take a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth, an advantage the Firebirds would carry into the sixth. 

A two-out walk by DiLello set the table for a RBI triple off the bat of Schneider, pulling the Titans winin one, 2-1. 

In the seven, IWU evened the score at 2-2. Dan Cerniglia (Park Ridge, Ill.-Maine South) drew a leadoff walk and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt, before taking third on a wild pitch. Cerniglia then scored as Ranneklev laced a single to center to tie the game at two. 

After Carthage got a run back in the bottom of the seventh to reclaim the lead, 3-2, DiLello and Schneider belted back-to-back doubles to even the score at three all.

With the game tied, Kraft entered the mound in relief in the bottom of the eighth. Working around a one-out single, Kraft stranded two to send the game into the ninth knotted at 3-3.

Junior Cole Greer (Springfield, Ill.-Pleasant Plains) got the Titans going with a leadoff walk, and freshman Evan Hutson (Normal, Ill.-Normal West) reached on an error that allowed Greer to score all the way from first. A single by Burgh put runners on the corners, and a balk brought in Hutson to up the Titan lead to 5-3. 

Kraft closed out the win with a 1-2-3 ninth, finishing the game off with a strikeout to even the series at one apiece.

The Titans and Firebirds close out the series with a 2 p.m. first pitch tomorrow, April 12. 

 
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