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Ethan Burgh Hitting Against Wabash on March 27, 2023
Carson Schaefer
7
Winner Wabash WABB 14-6
4
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 4-11
Winner
Wabash WABB
14-6
7
Final
4
Ill. Wesleyan IWU
4-11
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Wabash WABB 0 0 0 1 1 0 4 0 1 7 10 0
Ill. Wesleyan IWU 0 0 0 1 0 3 0 0 0 4 7 1

W: Jacob Bishop (3-2) L: Wenz, Lukas (0-1) S: Gavin Pierson (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball’s Home Opener Spoiled by Wabash

Will play Eastern Illinois on Wednesday

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - For the first time in 324 days, the Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team played a home contest at the historic Horenberger Field in Bloomington by welcoming Wabash College to conclude the three-game series, March 27. Wabash used a four-run seventh to spoil IWU's home opener by a final score of 7-4. With the setback, the Titans record sits at 4-11, while the Little Giants record upped to 14-6.

The first hit from either side came in the top of the fourth on a Wabash solo home run. After three and a half, the Little Giants owned the 1-0 advantage.

With two down and a runner on third in the bottom of the fourth, senior Ethan Burgh (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Prospect) laced a two-strike offering over the outstretched glove of the first baseman for the Titans first hit of the ballgame. The hit allowed senior Thomas Bleker (Lombard, Ill.-Glenbard West) to score easily as IWU tied the contest, 1-1.

Wabash retook the lead, 2-1, in the top of the fifth on an unearned run. Freshman Jack Flagg (River Forest, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) entered the game out of the bullpen with bases loaded and one out. Flagg retired the side as he induced a shallow fly ball and a ground ball to keep the Little Giants from adding to their advantage. 

In the bottom of the sixth, IWU tagged Wabash for three runs, on three hits, that featured a pair of triples. Senior Jalen Ping (Chatham, Ill.-Glenwood) drove an outside pitch that drilled off the right field wall, for a one-out triple. With the infield in, junior Louis Perona (Chicago, Ill.-Lane Tech) put together an impressive at-bat. After fouling off several pitches, he drove a seeing-eye single right back up the middle to tie the game at two. Perona stole second before Burgh delivered a three-bagger to right center, for his second RBI of the game, to give IWU a 3-2 lead. Junior Evan Hutson (Normal, Ill.-Normal West) executed a perfect suicide squeeze that allowed Burgh to easily score to push the advantage to 4-2 as the game moved to the seventh.

The Little Giants manufactured four runs in the top of the seventh, along with one in the ninth to take the lead, 7-4.

The Titans threatened in the bottom of the ninth, but the Wabash bullpen was able to shut the door to claim the 7-4 victory.

Wabash outhit IWU by a final tally of 10-7. Perona and Burgh each tallied two hits, while Burgh recorded a pair of RBI.

The Titans used six pitchers to cover the nine innings. Sophomore Lukas Wenz (Naperville, Ill.-Neuqua Valley) took the loss out of the bullpen.

The Green and White will make the short trip to Charleston, Ill. to tangle with Division I Eastern Illinois University for the program's next contest. First pitch at Coaches Stadium is set for Wednesday, March 29 at 3 p.m.

 
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