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Ethan Burgh Turning a Double Play on 4-5-22
9
Winner North Central NCC 17-5
3
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 10-9
Winner
North Central NCC
17-5
9
Final
3
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
10-9
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
North Central NCC 0 0 0 3 2 1 2 0 1 9 11 2
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 0 3 4 0

W: Kotecki, Jaedin (1-0) L: Lohman, Bryce (0-2) S: Shanner, Jason (3)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Home Opener Spoiled by No. 9 North Central

Titans return to Horenberger, April 8

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team began its home portion of the 2022 season by taking on College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin foe, No. 9 North Central College. The Titans' bats went cold after the fourth inning as NCC recovered from an early deficit to spoil IWU's home opener by a score of 9-3. With the setback, the Titans' record slipped to 10-9 (1-1 CCIW), while the Cardinal's record was upped to 17-5 (4-0 CCIW). 

Three straight Titan free passes loaded the bases with two outs in the home half of the first. Junior Ethan Burgh (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Prospect) earned the team's fourth consecutive base on balls to allow senior Dominic DiLello (Springfield, Ill.-Sacred Heart Griffin) to trot home to create an early 1-0 lead. A Cardinal strikeout thwarted the threat to end the first.

Back-to-back singles led off the bottom half of the third inning. Senior Jared Mutter (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) grounded out, driving in senior Evan Ranneklev (Naperville, Ill.-Neuqua Valley) to expand the lead to 2-0 after three innings of play.

The Cardinals managed to take their first lead of the afternoon on three hits, leading to three runs as NCC claimed the slim 3-2 advantage heading into the bottom of the fourth. 

The lead was short lived as the Titans manufactured the game-tying run by playing small ball. Ranneklev reached on a fielder's choice with the bases loaded, allowing senior Jack Schneider (Naperville, Ill.-Benet Academy) to cross the plate, who reached on a North Central miscue to lead off the frame as the score stood at three apiece after four innings of play.

NCC reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth as the score stood at 5-3, in favor of the visitors. 

North Central managed to tack on another tally after back-to-back two out walks by Illinois Wesleyan that followed a base knock to make the score 6-3, heading into the home half of the sixth.

A key two out, two-run, round-tripper for NCC widened the lead to 8-3 as the game progressed to the seventh inning stretch.

The Cardinal bullpen was able to come in and shut down the Titan comeback efforts as IWU dropped a 9-3 decision.

Freshman Brady Hartman (Milan, I'll.-Sherrard) got the nod on the bump for the Green and White. The freshman tossed four innings of work and did not factor into the decision. 

Junior Bryce Lohman (Effingham, Ill.-Effingham) took the loss (0-2) for the Titans out of the bullpen.

Four different Titans recorded a base hit. The Cardinals outhit the Titans by a tally of 11-4.

The Green and White will continue CCIW play with a busy weekend slate, playing four games in three days. The weekend will start with a single game against Wheaton College Friday, April 8. First pitch is slated for 5 p.m. at Horenberger Field.
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