Kodiak Creative

Baseball Sets Sights on Last Game of Regular Season

Game time for Friday Doubleheader changed to 2 and 5 p.m.

5/2/2024 10:30:00 AM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team is heading into its last few games of the regular season against College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin foe North Park University with a doubleheader on Friday, May 3 at 2 and 5 p.m. and a single game on Saturday to end the three-game series at 4 p.m. IWU will be honoring the senior class on Saturday.

IWU and NPU both go into this weekend's game with the assurance of having automatic spots in the conference tournament along with Millikin and Carthage. Currently, the Titans sit at third in conference with a record of 22-13 overall, and 11-6 in the league, whereas the Vikings head the league with an overall record of 26-10, and 14-3 in the CCIW.

The Titans last played Elmhurst University Wednesday, May 1. The Bluejays scored eight runs in late innings taking the win over the Green and White, 10-5. North Park recently swept Carroll University in a three-game series 23-6, 8-7, 10-2, respectively.

Illinois Wesleyan and North Park have played a total of 90 times dating back to 1988, with IWU taking the overall record against NPU, 63-27. The Titans longest win streak against any team is against the Vikings taking 36 wins in a row for 10 years from 1996 to 2006. The most recent meeting between the two, however, showed the Vikings on top with an 11-9 win over the Titans.

Sophomore Cole Shamhart (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) was recently named the CCIW Pitcher of the Week, Monday, April 29. This is his third honor of the season for the young sophomore who holds an impressive 8-0 record this season. Shamhart's ERA is 2.85, which places him at fourth in the conference. IWU takes up three of the top five spots in ERA in the conference with Shamhart, junior Dalen Banks (Springfield, Ill.-Springfield) and fellow sophomore Will Davidsmeier (Virginia, Ill.-Beardstown).

Freshman John Philip Ferraro (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) is playing lights out lately as he has slowly climbed the leaderboard in batting average in the conference. Ferraro sits tied for first with Alex Devito from North Park with a batting average of .406. The freshman's last performances include a 1-for-3 and a 2-for-4 at bat showing against Blackburn and Elmhurst, respectively.

The Titans take four of the top five spots on the leaderboard for batting average with Ferraro, juniors Justin Gadomski (Schaumburg, Ill.-Schuamburg), and Tyler Woltman (Wheaton, Ill.-Wheaton North) who are tied at .385 and senior Louis Perona (Chicago, Ill.-Lane Tech), who sits at fifth with .384.

The seniors that will be recognized on Saturday are Dino Biggers (Naperville, Ill.-Naperville Central), Jacob Cyrus (Glen Ellyn, Ill.-Glenbrook South), Evan Hutson (Normal, Ill-Normal West), Michael Passarelli (Chicago, Ill.-De La Salle), Louis Perona, Josh Ralston (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East), Aiden Smith (Marengo, Ill.-Marengo), Alex Smith (Normal, Ill.-Normal West), and Luke Uhwat (Spring Grove, Ill.-Richmond-Burton).

The live stream and the live stats for all three games can be found on IWUsports.com under baseball's schedule page.

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