Bailey Turner & Hailey Milgazo outside the dugout

Kodiak Creative

Four-Game Trip Looms Large for Softball

Titans to travel to Wheaton and Augie, May 3-4

5/2/2024 12:00:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - A four-game roadtrip features plenty of postseason implications for the Illinois Wesleyan University softball team as the Titans continue their pursuit of a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin regular season title and the No. 1 seed in the upcoming conference tournament. IWU travels to Wheaton College Friday, May 3, for a 1 p.m doubleheader before continuing on to Augustana College Saturday, May 4. First pitch at Augie is scheduled for 12 p.m.

Illinois Wesleyan heads into the final weekend of the regular season with a 24-9 overall record. The Titans are 10-2 in league games, holding a slim one-game lead of Augustana in the standings. Wheaton, guided by former IWU assistant coach Amanda Fazzari, is 16-18 overall with a 5-9 CCIW mark. The Thunder are in a tight battle for the sixth and final seed in the conference tournament. Meanwhile, Augie welcomes the Green and White to town with eyes on improving its 9-3 conference standing, while the Vikings are 22-12 overall.

IWU and WC are no strangers, as the conference foes have squared off 59 times since 1997. Illinois Wesleyan owns a 50-9 lead in the all-time series and is currently on an eight-game win streak against the Thunder. The Green and White has won 26 of the past 28 meetings, including both ends of last season's doubleheader (8-0 & 4-3). Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana's history dates back to 1997 and has seen the two tangle 71 times since the initial meeting. IWU holds a 45-26 lead in the all-time series and has won nine straight against the Vikings dating back to 2021. Most recently, the Titans knocked the Vikings out of last season's conference tournament with a 4-3 victory May 12, 2023.

The Titans most recently swept Carroll in a doubleheader Saturday, April 27, where IWU outscored CU, 26-0. The sweep landed junior Jen Kuhn (Normal, Ill.-University High) and sophomore Gianna Certa (Third Lake, Ill.-Grayslake North) CCIW Hitter and Pitcher of the Week honors, respectively.

Kuhn is one of three Titans hitting over .400 on the season, ranking second with a .459 clip. She paces the team with 40 RBIs, a .730 slugging, and .524 on-base percentage. Freshman Hailey Milgazo (Poway, Calif.-Poway) holds an average of .473 with team-highs of 52 hits and 15 stolen bases, while sophomore Anna Beckman (Boutbonnais, Ill.-Bishop McNamara) checks in with a .427 batting average. Beckman's 41 runs lead IWU, with her 13 steals second-best in the squad. Sophomore Casey Wissmiller (Bloomington, Ill.-Olympia) has a team-leading six homers on the year, one more than Kuhn, to go along with 35 RBIs.

Certa has led the pitching staff this season, compiling a 13-2 record. The sophomore has struck out 82 over 101.2 innings with a 1.38 earned run average. She has thrown 14 complete games with six shutouts.

The weekend gets underway with a 1 p.m. first pitch at Wheaton on Friday, May 3. A live stream and live stats for each game will be available through links on the softball schedule page of iwusports.com.

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