Casey Swanson Hitting (Used for April 28, 2023 Story Photo)

Kodiak Creative

Baseball Set for Showdown at Nationally Ranked Augustana

CCIW doubleheader scheduled for 1 p.m.

4/28/2023 12:00:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - With only eight days left in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin regular season, the Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team will travel northwest for a key doubleheader against the league leaders, 25th-ranked Augustana College, Saturday, April 29. Entering the weekend slate, IWU is currently riding a five-game winning streak, while the Vikings are enjoying a 10-game run. For the year, the Green and White owns a record of 15-18 (7-6 CCIW), while Augie sits at 28-6 (11-2 CCIW).

Dating back to the 1988 season, the Titans and Vikings have met on the diamond a total of 131 times. IWU owns the slim, 70-61, series advantage with a 27-33 road record. The Green and White won the inaugural meeting with a final score of 9-8. However, the most recent history has been on the side of the Vikings, as AC has claimed four of the last five encounters.

Illinois Wesleyan is coming off of the team's first shutout victory of the season by taking down Carroll University, 4-0, Tuesday, April 25. Freshman Jake Pullam (Palatine, Ill.-Palatine) took a no-hitter into the sixth and posted a career-high 10 strikeouts to push IWU's win streak to five. In the team's last five games, the Green and White has outscored opponents by a tally of 54-19.

The Vikings last took to the field yesterday, April 27, for a non-conference contest against Knox College. AC took down the Prairie Fire by a final score of 21-4.

In the Green and White's 13 conference contests thus far, sophomore Tristan Figus (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Buffalo Grove) tops the team with his .432 batting average, good for 16 hits in 37 at-bats. Figus ranks fifth in the league with his batting average mark.

Junior Louis Perona (Chicago, Ill.-Lane Tech) owns the second-highest batting average on the team (.407) in CCIW games. However, Perona leads IWU with his 1.041 OPS, 22 hits, and 31 total bases.

Senior Ethan Burgh (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Prospect) leads all of the CCIW with his 19 RBI. Additionally, Burgh ranks tied for first in triples (two), and is also tied for second in the league with six doubles.

In the CCIW team rankings, the Titans have manufactured the second-highest league batting average with a .317 clip. North Central College sits atop the list with an impressive .347 team batting average.

On the bump, sophomore Dalen Banks (Springfield, Ill.-Springfield) leads the staff with his 3-1 CCIW record, two complete games, and 28 innings pitched. Pullam, who has had an exceptional league slate, has notched a 1-1 league record. Pullam tops IWU with his 31 strikeouts and sits in second with 20.1 innings tossed.

Collectively, the Green and White pitching staff has dropped its season ERA by nearly one and a half runs since league action began. The staff has posted a 6.18 season ERA, compared to its 4.66 CCIW team ERA.

As a unit, the Titans own the fourth-best team ERA in the league. Millikin University sits atop the list with the Big Blue's 3.21 team ERA.

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

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