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Will Kafer pregame
Nick Helten
2
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 17-22, 12-19 CCIW
4
Winner Millikin MILLIKIN 26-13, 19-12 CCIW
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
17-22, 12-19 CCIW
2
Final
4
Millikin MILLIKIN
26-13, 19-12 CCIW
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 0 0 0 0 0 0 2 0 0 2 3 1
Millikin MILLIKIN 0 0 0 1 0 1 0 2 X 4 9 1

W: Coleman (6-2) L: Hough, Brady (1-1) S: Kane (2)

6
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 17-23, 12-20 CCIW
7
Winner Millikin MILLIKIN 27-13, 20-12 CCIW
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
17-23, 12-20 CCIW
6
Final
7
Millikin MILLIKIN
27-13, 20-12 CCIW
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 0 0 0 3 0 1 0 0 2 6 11 1
Millikin MILLIKIN 0 0 4 0 2 0 1 0 X 7 12 1

W: Badorek (1-1) L: Trudeau, Dan (0-3) S: Lawrence (3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Drops Regular Season Finale at Millikin

Titans fall 4-2 and 7-6

DECATUR, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team fell in both ends of a doubleheader in Decatur Saturday afternoon, May 15, as Millikin University downed the Titans 4-2 and 7-4 in the regular season finale. 

Illinois Wesleyan finishes the regular season with a 17-23 overall record, including a 12-20 conference mark. Millikin sits at 27-13, 20-12 after the doubleheader.

Game One: Illinois Wesleyan 2, Millikin 4
The Titans comeback effort was thwarted by the Big Blue in the first game of the day. After trailing 2-0 into the seventh, Illinois Wesleyan plated a pair of runs to knot the game at 2-2. 

Millikin responded with two of its own in the eighth to retake the lead, 4-2. A leadoff walk brought the tying run to the plate in IWU's half of the ninth, but a double play and fly out halted the comeback effort.

Senior Joe Prestamer (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln Way East) started the game and threw four innings of one-run ball on four hits, before being lifted for senior Jacob Duffy (Pontiac, Ill.-Pontiac). After Duffy tossed two frames, allowing a run on two hits, senior Brady Hough (Germantown Hills, Ill.-Peoria Notre Dame) entered for the final two innings. Hough, who ultimately was the pitcher of record, fanned three over two innings. 

Offensively, IWU was held to just three hits with juniors Dominic DiLello (Springfield, Ill.-Sacred Heart Griffin) and Evan Ranneklev (Naperville, Ill.-Neuqua Valley), and sophomore Ethan Burgh (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Prospect) noticing one apiece.

Game Two: Illinois Wesleyan 6, Millikin 7
It was a by committee approach on the mound in game two, as the Titans used seven different pitchers. Freshman Will Kafer (Bloomington, Ill.-Normal West) notched the start and threw two scoreless, yielding three hits. Fellow freshman Garrett Swingler (Normal, Ill.-Normal West) and Scott Monocchio (Glen Ellyn, Ill.-Glenbard West) were strong in relief. Swingler threw 1.2 innings, allowing just one hit and striking out two, while Monocchio tossed a one-hit sixth.

The Titan offense awakened in the night cap, tagging the Big Blue for 11 hits. Kafer aided his own cause with a 2-for-4 effort that included a pair of RBIs, two runs scored, and a walk. Junior Jared Mutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) and Jack Schneider (Naperville, Ill.-Benet Academy) also notched two hits each.

A four-run third for the Big Blue put IWU behind in the early goings. 

Kafer's RBI single jump started the Titans' three-run fourth. A fielder's choice was followed by Schneider's RBI double to pull IWU within one, 4-3.

Millikin bolstered its lead with two runs in the fifth, but a RBI single by senior Dan Cerniglia (Park Ridge, Ill.-Maine South) kept the deficit at two, 6-4, into the seventh. 

After the Big Blue tacked on another run in the seventh via a passed ball, the Titans rallied in the ninth. Ranneklev got the one-out rally going with a single, and Mutter followed with a base knock to put two on. After Burgh walked, Kafer's groundball plated a run and cut the MU lead to 7-5. Freshman Jacob Cyrus (Glen Ellyn, Ill.-Glenbard South) came up clutch as a pinch hitter, singling to right to make it 7-6, but the rally ended with the tying run on third.

Illinois Wesleyan will begin College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament play Wednesday, May 19. Game time and opponent are yet to be determined as league games wrap up this evening. 


 
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