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Caleb Martinez pitching against Carroll April 1, 2025
© AshtinElder
2
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 1-9
7
Winner Spalding SPALDING 6-5
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES
1-9
2
Final
7
Spalding SPALDING
6-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 1 0 2 7 2
Spalding SPALDING 0 1 0 0 1 5 0 0 X 7 8 3

W: Caden Krystofiak (1-2) L: Benson, Cole (0-3)

2
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 1-10
15
Winner Spalding SPALDING 7-5
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES
1-10
2
Final
15
Spalding SPALDING
7-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 R H E
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 0 0 2 0 0 0 0 2 10 1
Spalding SPALDING 1 2 10 0 0 2 X 15 14 1

W: Jordan Howard (1-2) L: Martinez, Caleb (0-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Titans Fall to Spalding in Doubleheader

Series finale tomorrow, March 14 at 12 p.m. ET

LOUISVILLE, Ky .- A quiet offense saw a sweep of the Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team as it lost the first two games at Spalding University Saturday, March 14, at Derby City Field in Louisville, Ky. The Titans drop to 1-10 with Spalding driving its record to over .500 at 7-5.

GAME ONE: Illinois Wesleyan: 2 Spalding: 7 
Sophomore Cole Benson (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) started his third game of the season in the series opener. Benson worked five innings allowing six runs with five earned. He struck out a career-high seven batters and gave up seven hits, while allowing two walks. Senior Cole Shamhart (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) pitched the final three innings, giving up a run, a hit and struck out one.

The first seven hitters in the Titan lineup all recorded a hit with sophomore Ben Ford (Naperville, Ill.-Waubonsie Valley) recording the lone RBI. The Green and White tallied seven hits with Spalding finishing with eight. Spalding committed three errors and Illinois Wesleyan surrendered two. 

Benson worked a clean first, but found himself in trouble in the second after a leadoff single and a free pass to set up a sacrifice bunt. An unfortunate catcher's interference call scored the first run of the game, but the right-hander stranded runners on the bases with a strikeout and a flyout. The Titans struggled to get Benson run support leaving runners on in the first three innings.

IWU broke through midway through the game with the top of the order tying the game at one. Sophomore AJ Weller (Geneseo, Ill.-Geneseo) reached on a hit by pitch and then swiped second base to move into scoring position for Ford, who found himself a hitters count and delivered an RBI single into left field to tie the score, but back-to-back strikeouts closed out the inning. 

Spalding answered its next time at the plate, scoring a run after a leadoff walk which led to a stolen base. A single into center scored AJ Lopez but Benson buckled down to get the next two batters with help from junior Luca Morelli (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Adlai E. Stevenson). Morelli gunned down a runner trying to steal second to thwart the scoring opportunity.

A 1-2-3 top of the sixth kept momentum on the Golden Eagles' side and led to a five-run sixth inning. Back-to-back singles to lead off the inning put SU in position for a two RBI single and would chase Benson for Shamhart. Spalding added more insurance, adding three more runs to make it 7-1.

Illinois Wesleyan was quiet with the bats the next two innings but scratched across its second run of the game in the eighth frame on a junior Eli Kieser (Normal, Ill.-University High School) single through the left side. The hit scored junior John Philip Ferraro (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest). IWU could not manufacture any more runs as it fell in game one, 7-2.

GAME TWO: Illinois Wesleyan 2 Spalding 15
Spalding used a 10-run third inning to power past the Titans in seven innings. Fourteen hits from the Golden Eagles while the Titans scored two runs on 10 hits.

Junior Caleb Martinez (Wheeling, Ill.-Wheeling) entered game two with the ball in his hand going just two innings, allowing five runs with three of them earned. He recorded a strikeout and gave up a hit. The Titans used five other pitchers to close out the shortened game with sophomore Michael Gurgone (Mokena, Ill.-Lincoln-Way Central) lasting 2.1 innings and allowing five runs with three earned runs.

Sophomore Matt Hudik (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) led the Titans with two hits along with Flagg who recorded a two-hit game. Flagg recorded an RBI along with Ferraro. 

Spalding struck first in the bottom of the opening inning when a runner came across on a passed ball. The Golden Eagles brought two more across in the bottom of the second after a leadoff double and a sacrifice fly brought home a pair of runs.

Illinois Wesleyan cut into the lead with two runs in the top of the third. Ferraro singled to score Weller and senior Jack Flagg (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) split the right center gap to double home Ford. The Golden Eagles took control after an eighth hit, 10-run, inning to grab full control with a score of 13-2. The score would stay that way for the next three innings before SU tacked on two more runs with a single and a double. The Titans went silent the following innings as the Golden Eagles finished off the seven inning game. 

Illinois Wesleyan will return to action tomorrow, Sunday, March 15 to wrap up the series with Spalding.
 
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