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Davidsmeier pitching front view
Sam Okewole
4
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 1-5
6
Winner Rhodes RHODES 8-2
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES
1-5
4
Final
6
Rhodes RHODES
8-2
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 0 3 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 4 11 1
Rhodes RHODES 0 0 3 2 1 0 0 0 X 6 9 1

W: N. Shumway () L: Shamhart, Cole ()

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Drops Finale at Rhodes

Begin three-game set with WashU, March 6

MEMPHIS, Tenn. - The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team fell 6-4 to Rhodes College at Stauffer Field in Memphis, Tenn. Sunday, March 1. The Titans head back north after an 0-3 road trip and sit at 1-5. Rhodes improves its record to 8-2 in its first 10 games.

Junior Eli Kieser (Normal, Ill.-University High School) was the bright spot for the IWU offense, ending with a career-high three hits in four at-bats. The first baseman scored two runs and drove in one. Senior Jack Flagg (River Forest, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) and sophomore AJ Weller (Geneseo, Ill.-Geneseo) each tallied multi-hit games, finishing 2-for-5 with a run scored apiece.

Earning his second start of the season, senior Cole Shamhart (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) suffered his first loss this year. Shamhart faced 20 batters in 3.2 innings of work. He let up five runs, all earned, on six hits and handed out three free passes. Senior Will Davidsmeier (Virginia, Ill.-Beardstown) produced a positive outing. Davidsmeier worked 3.1 innings, allowing just three hits and one run, which was unearned. He finished with two strikeouts and four walks.

The Green and White were quiet in the first inning, but opened the scoring in the second. Flagg began the inning with an opposite field single followed by a Weller hit up the middle. Head coach Michael Kellar called on Luca Morelli (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Adlai E. Stevenson) for a sacrifice bunt down the first base line moving the runners up a base. Kieser began his day by driving in the first run of the game, as he sent a rope up the middle too hot for the shortstop to handle. With runners on the corners, a pickoff attempt was spiked into the dirt and made its way into foul territory, far enough for Weller to score to give the Titans a 2-0 lead. After a free pass to senior Tommy Willard (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove South), sophomore Matt Hudik (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) sent a ball into center field to drive in Kieser for the third score of the inning.

After building their three-run lead, the Titans' advantage vanished in the third. The Lynx opened the bottom of the frame with four straight baserunners, a walk and three consecutive hits would cut into the IWU lead to make it 3-2. Not done yet, RC received an RBI groundout to knot the score at 3-3 after three.

The fourth inning saw the Green and White log a pair of hits from sophomore Ben Ford (Naperville, Ill.-Waubonsie Valley) and Hudik, but two straight outs stranded them on the bases. Shamhart retired his first batter of the inning but a hit by a pitch on the next created a scoring chance for RC. The Lynx knocked a single into center to take a 5-4 lead and a two-out RBI double would make it 5-3 in the fourth. Rhodes added on insurance in the fifth with one hit scoring one run. The ever-dreadful leadoff walk haunted the Titans after a fielder's choice would move the runner into scoring position and a single into right field would make it 6-3.

After its three-run third inning, Illinois Wesleyan's bats slowed until the eighth inning. In a rally that proved to be too little too late, the bottom of the order strung together a pair of hits to begin the penultimate inning. Kieser doubled to left for his third hit of the day and senior Gage Wolfe (Bloomington, Ill.-Bloomington) moved him to third on a single into right. After Willard reached on a fielder's choice, Hudik drove in Kieser on a ground out to the shortstop. An inning-ending flyout put a halt to the Titans comeback followed by a quiet ninth inning to end the game.

Illinois Wesleyan is back on the road as it travels to St. Louis, Mo. for a weekend series with WashU Saturday, March 7. First pitch from Kelly Field is slated for 11 a.m. with game two to follow.
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