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Bloomington, IL - May 09 - NCAA Baseball: Illinois Wesleyan vs North Central (G6) (Photo by Ashtin Elder/Kodiak Creative)
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Baseball Journeys South for Meeting with DePauw and Rhodes

Titans will play a doubleheader Saturday, single game Sunday

2/26/2026 3:30:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team will jaunt down to Memphis, Tenn. Saturday-Sunday, Feb. 28-March 1, to partake in three games between DePauw University and Rhodes College. 

The Titans will rise early Saturday morning for a game against DU at 10:30 a.m, and will take on RC around 2 p.m. IWU will close out its weekend the following day with a 2 p.m. first pitch against Rhodes at Stauffer Field. The Green and White roll into Memphis with a 1-2 record, while DePauw sports a 1-1 mark and Rhodes sits at 4-1. DePauw opened its season splitting a pair of games against Ripon College and Aurora University. The Tigers knocked off RC 15-5 before dropping a 6-1 bout to AU. Rhodes most recently knocked off University of Chicago. The Lynx have scored double-digit runs in all but one of their wins. 

Illinois Wesleyan resumes play following a week off after dropping 2-of-3 to Greenville University, Wednesday-Thursday, Feb 18-19. Sparked by sophomore AJ Weller (Geneseo, Ill.-Geneseo) and senior Jack Flagg (River Forest, Ill.-Orland Park River Forest), the Titans engineered a comeback in game one to win their first game of the campaign, before letting a pair of leads slip away late in the final two contests. 

Weller and Flagg combined to go 16-for-28 in the three-game set with three home runs and 13 RBI's. Weller, on the heels of his first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Hitter of the Week honor, starred in his first week as a Titan. In 13 at-bats, he recorded nine hits (.692 avg) including his first career home run, to go along with three doubles and a triple. Flagg swung his way to his first career multi-home run game and accounted for eight of the duo's 13 RBI's.

Illinois Wesleyan and DePauw will meet for the 19th time Saturday, with IWU holding a 12-6 advantage against the Tigers. The two opened the series in 1988 with Illinois Wesleyan winning the first three games. They have competed at each other's home facility while also meeting in St. Louis, Mo., and Millington, Tenn. in the NCAA Tournament. Head coach Michael Kellar is 1-1 in his career against DU, as the two teams split a doubleheader last season in late April at Jack Horenberger Field. The Titans snagged game one, 3-0, behind a combined shutout started by then-junior Will Davidsmeier (Virginia, Ill.-Beardstown) and closed out by classmate Luke Costello (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove South). DePauw blew past IWU in game two, scoring 11 unanswered runs to claim the victory. 

Against Rhodes, IWU holds a 16-7 all-time margin, winning seven straight games to open the series. The Green and White has dropped two out of the last three games, winning a neutral site contest in Auburndale, Fla., 4-3, in extras. Under the direction of Kellar, Illinois Wesleyan has never faced Rhodes, as the last time the Lynx and Titans faced off was in 2023 with RC winning 16-8. Prior to the Florida meeting, IWU and RC had met 16 times in the Home of the Blues, gathering just twice in Bloomington, Ill.

Illinois Wesleyan will play in its first of three morning games of the year, squaring off against DePauw, with first pitch scheduled for 10:30 a.m. at Stauffer Field. Live stats will be available on the baseball schedule page of iwusports. A
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