Tommy Willard Hitting Against North Park on April 2, 2023

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Baseball Sets Sights on Carroll and Eureka

Midweeks set for Tuesday-Wednesday, April 18-19

4/17/2023 10:13:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - With another five-game week looming for the Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team, the program will travel to Waukesha, Wis. for a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin clash with Carroll University, Tuesday, April 18 to begin the week. The Green and White then hosts Eureka College, Wednesday, April 19 for a non-conference contest. Tomorrow's first pitch is set for 4 p.m. at Frame Park, while Wednesday's first pitch is scheduled for 6 p.m. at Horenberger Field.

Entering the week, IWU owns a record of 10-17 (4-5 CCIW), the Pios sit at 13-12 (6-3 CCIW), and Eureka holds a 6-20 clip.

The Titans last traveled to Elmhurst, Ill. for the rubber game of the three-game series, Saturday, April 15. Three costly errors propelled the Bluejays to a final score of 11-3 to take the series. Meanwhile, Carroll is coming off of a CCIW double dip against North Central College, Saturday, April 15. The Cardinals won both ends of the twinbill by final scores of 11-1 and 11-3. Finally, the Red Devils most recently took on Greenville University for a St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference three-game weekend, April 14-15. GU took all three games of the series to push EU's losing skid to 10 games.

Tuesday's tilt against the Pios will mark the program's 17th all-time meeting, dating back to the 2017 season. Having won the first eight games of the series, IWU owns the 11-5 all-time series advantage. The Titans are currently riding a two-game win streak against CU after sweeping the season series last season by scores of 3-0 and 9-3. Additionally, Wednesday's non-conference game against Eureka will be just the ninth meeting between the two, as IWU has won seven of the eight previous meetings. Wednesday's encounter will mark the first time these two have met in nearly 20 years, as they last met May 6, 2003 in Bloomington.

With 27 games already in the books, the Illinois Wesleyan offense has been spearheaded by junior Louis Perona (Chicago, Ill.-Lane Tech) and senior Jalen Ping (Chatham, Ill.-Glenwood). The duo are the only two players who have started each contest for the Titans.

Perona leads the offense with his .422 batting average, 1.078 OPS, 25 RBIs, and 23 stolen bases. In the CCIW rankings, the Chicago, Ill. native leads the conference with his 23 stolen bases. Additionally, he sits fourth in hits (43) and fourth in batting average (.422)

Ping tops the Titans with his 111 at-bats, 34 runs scored, 44 hits, 14 doubles, 66 total bases, and a .595 slugging percentage. The Chatham, Ill. native sits second on the team with his .396 batting average and 1.039 OPS. In the conference standings, Ping ranks first in doubles (14), third in hits (44), and eighth in batting average (.396).

On the bump, sophomore Dalen Banks (Springfield, Ill.-Springfield) leads the pitching staff in every statistical category. Banks has toed the rubber for 50.0 innings, which is 29 more innings than the next hurler on the staff. On the year, the sophomore has posted a 2.70 ERA, a 5-1 record, and has struck out 45 batters.

Live stats and a live video stream will be available for both games. Tuesday's live stats can be found here, while the live video can be accessed here. Wednesday's live stats can be accessed here, while the live video stream can be viewed here.

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