BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - After locking down the third-seed for the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament, the Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team will play Carthage College, the sixth-seed, in the first round of the tournament. IWU will tangle with CC, at 2 p.m., Wednesday, May 8. The tournament is scheduled for Wednesday-Saturday, May 8-11. North Park University, who claimed the CCIW regular season championship crown alongside Millikin University, will host the four-day tournament as the No. 1 seed at Holmgren Athletic Complex. 

The full six-team bracket including game times and other pertinent information, can be found by clicking here.  

IWU is prepared to battle in the CCIW Tournament and is vying for its first tournament title since 2014 when the Green and White defeated North Central by a final score of 8-3 in the championship game to earn the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

As a single-elimination play-in game, if lower-seed IWU wins, the Titans will face No. 2 Millikin on Thursday at 3 p.m. but if Carthage as the higher seed wins, the Firebirds will play No. 1 North Park at noon on Thursday. 

Illinois Wesleyan last took to the field Saturday, May 4, in a single game against North Park where IWU succumbed to NPU in a 15-2 loss. North Park clinched the No. 1 spot and the right to host the CCIW Tournament after Millikin split with Wheaton on Saturday. 

The Green and White picked up two wins over Carthage earlier this season, stealing a 13-3 win in Kenosha, Wis. and then two days later shutting out the Firebirds in a 4-0 win at home.

Wednesday's game will mark the 112th meeting between the Titans and the Firebirds, dating back to 1991. IWU owns the 60-52 all-time series over the CC. The longest series advantage can be traced back to an 8-game winning streak from April 2013 to April 2015. The most recent history has been in favor of IWU as the Titans have won eight of the last 10 encounters. 

As an offense, Illinois Wesleyan ranks first in the conference with a team batting average of .327. North Park and Millikin tail IWU in second and third with .315 and .314, respectively. 

In the team's 20 CCIW contests this year, freshman John Philip Ferraro (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) leads IWU with his .472 batting average. Ferraro ranks second in the league for overall batting average (.397). 

Junior Justin Gadomski (Schaumburg, Ill.-Schaumburg) owns the third-highest CCIW batting average on the team, hitting .382 against league opponents. Gadomski leads the team in hits (32), total bases (42), and slugging percentage (.545). 

On the mound, the Illinois Wesleyan pitching roster ranks third in the CCIW with a 4.20 team ERA. North Park (3.95) is the only staff to post a team ERA under 4.00.

Individually, junior Dalen Banks (Springfield, Ill.-Springfield) leads the Titans with 40.1 conference innings with three three wins in CCIW action. Sophomore Cole Shamhart (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) tops the staff with 41 strikeouts.  

Additionally, the Green and White check in at third in the league with a .970 team fielding percentage.   

Live stats and live video for the entire tournament will be available. Live stats can be found here, while the live video stream can be accessed here.