MOLINE, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team was two outs from making history in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament, Saturday, May 13, but fell in heartbreak, walk-off, fashion to the 17th-ranked Augustana College in the winner-take-all game. After winning game one earlier today, IWU fell by a final score of 6-5 in extra innings. In game one, the Titans put an end to Augustana's 19-game winning streak.
The Green and White ended their season with a 22-23 record, while Augie clinched the CCIW's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament with a record of 38-7.
Prior to the games, junior Evan Hutson (Normal, Ill.-Normal West) was named the CCIW's Elite-26 Award Winner. Modeled after the NCAA's Elite 90 program, the CCIW Elite-26 award is presented to the student-athlete who excels academically and athletically at the conference level in each of the CCIW's 26 sponsored sports.
To be eligible for the Elite 26 Award, a student-athlete must be a sophomore, junior, or senior, in at least their second season of competition with their current team and must be competing in the final game of the conference tournament.
Hutson, who is majoring in biochemistry at Illinois Wesleyan, sports a 4.0 GPA.
Game One: Illinois Wesleyan 3, No. 17 Augustana 1
The Titans, for the sixth game in a row, recorded at least one run in the first inning. Junior Louis Perona (Chicago, Ill.-Lane Tech) tallied the first hit of the championship on a bunt down the third base line. The next batter, sophomore Tristan Figus (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Buffalo Grove) laced a single through the ride side, as Perona scampered to third. With runners on the corners and one away, junior Jacob Cyrus (Glen Ellyn, Ill.-Glenbard South) got IWU on the board with an RBI groundout to short. With two down, senior Ethan Burgh (Arlington Heights, Ill.-Buffalo Grove) split the center and right fielders for a double in the gap to score Figus. After the first half inning, the Green and White enjoyed a 2-0 lead.
Junior Luke Uhwat (Spring Grove, Ill.-Richmond-Burton) only surrendered one infield single in the first three frames to keep the 2-0 advantage heading to the third.
After the first two AC hitters reached on a walk and single, the Vikings laid down a sacrifice bunt to generate second and third with only one out. Uhwat induced a foul flyout to Hutston to secure out number two. With AC's designated hitter digging into the box, head coach Dennis Martel decided to intentionally walk him to fill the bases full of Vikings. The move paid off, as Uhwat worked a harmless grounder to Figus to strand the bases loaded. Heading to the fifth, Illinois Wesleyan maintained their 2-0 lead.
Again, in the bottom of the fifth, the Vikings generated bases loaded with two outs. Pitching coach Michael Kellar made the walk to the mound to pull Uhwat, who threw a season-high four and two-thirds innings, and motioned to bring in sophomore Lukas Wenz (Naperville, Ill.-Neuqua Valley). After getting ahead 0-2, Wenz dotted a back foot slider as the Augie hitter swung over the top of the offering to retire the side, while AC stranded the bases loaded for the second time in five innings.
IWU pushed across an insurance run in the seventh to create a 3-0 cushion. Senior
Thomas Bleker (Lombard, Ill.-Glenbard West) led off the frame with a sharp single to center. After an Augie pitching change, Hutson executed a sacrifice bunt to move Bleker up to second. A few pitches later, Bleker raced to third on a wild pitch. Sophomore
Jimmy Gurgone (Mokena, Ill.-St. Laurence) did his job by sending an offering to right. Using his speed, Bleker scampered home, just ahead of the throw, to give the Green and White a three-run lead heading to the bottom of the seventh.
In the bottom of the seventh, AC loaded the bases with no one out. With junior Josh Ralston (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) ready in the bullpen, coach Kellar made the pitching change. Entering in a tough spot, Ralston induced a shallow fly ball to center and a 4-6-3 double play to escape the inning and to keep the shutout alive. In the first seven innings, Augustana stranded the bases loaded three times as IWU held on to its 3-0 advantage as the game progressed to the eighth.
The Vikings loaded the bases, once again, in the eighth. A seeing-eye single through the left side generated Augie's first run to cut the deficit to 3-1. After the run, sophomore Dalen Banks (Springfield, Ill.-Springfield) jogged out of the Titan bullpen, just three days after making a start in Wednesday's opener. With AC vying for a big inning, Banks welcomed back-to-back weak popups to once again strand the bases loaded and to preserve the 3-1 lead. In eight innings, Augustana left the bases loaded four times.
Freshman Luke Costello (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove South) shut the door on Augie's comeback attempt by throwing a flawless ninth to give IWU the 3-1 victory and to end AC's 19-game winning streak. Costello earned his third save in the last 24 hours and fourth of the season.
IWU outhit Augustana by a final tally of 10-9. Burgh and Bleker both recorded two hits to pace the Titans.
Wenz was credited with the win (2-1) on the bump as he tossed one and one-third innings.
Game Two: Illinois Wesleyan 5, No. 17 Augustana 6 (10 Innings)
For the seventh straight game, Illinois Wesleyan scored at least one run in the first. After two walks, Cyrus barreled a single to right center to push Ping across the plate to generate the 1-0 lead. However, Illinois Wesleyan stranded the bases loaded to end the first half inning of the winner-take-all game.
Augustana grabbed their first lead of the day in the bottom of the second. AC tallied three runs, two of which scored on a Titan throwing error, to take the 3-1 lead.
Illinois Wesleyan cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the third. With two outs and a runner on third, Bleker tagged a single into shallow center, which allowed Figus to easily score.
IWU took advantage of a costly Augie fielding error to knot the score at three all. A two-out grounder that evaded the shortstop allowed Cyrus to reach first. Burgh kept the lineup moving as he recorded an infield single as Cyrus went to third on the play. Needing a big two-out base knock, Bleker was up to the task with his double down the left field line to push across the game-trying tally. With two on and two-out, Hutson sent a ball deep into left as all of Swanson Stadium went silent for a brief moment. The ball landed in the glove of the Augie left fielder on the warning track to keep the score even at three.
The Titans retook the lead, 4-3, in the sixth on a pair of costly AC errors. Junior Dino Biggers (Naperville, Ill.-Naperville Central) put a swinging bunt into play and the Augustana pitcher threw the ball into right, which allowed Biggers to trot all the way to third. Taking full advantage, Ping sent a grounder to third that was bobbled. Running on contact, Biggers beat the throw home to give IWU the slim, 4-3 advantage going into the bottom of the sixth.
In the bottom of the seventh, Augie evened the score at four.
With the back and forth action, Illinois Wesleyan retook the lead, 5-4, in the eighth. Ping led off the frame with a rope to center for a single. Figus sent a single through the five-six hole to set up first and third with one away. Cyrus delivered with a sacrifice fly to left as Ping ran home to give the Titans the slim advantage.
Clinging to a one-run lead going into the bottom of the ninth, Augie manufactured the game-tying run on a sacrifice fly to push the score even at 5-5.
With two on and two-out in the 10th, Augie laced the walk-off single to claim the 6-5 victory.
Illinois Wesleyan outhit Augustana by a final tally of 11-9. Bleker led IWU with his 3-for-4 contest, while Cyrus and Figus each notched two hits.
Head coach Dennis Martel is set to return 41 players into the 2024 campaign. This ends the career's of Ping, Bleker, Blake Nieburgge (Watson, Ill.-Effingham St. Anthony), and Burgh.
