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Luca Morelli hitting
ASHTIN ELDER PHOTO
8
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 1-11
9
Winner Spalding SPALDING 8-5
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES
1-11
8
Final
9
Spalding SPALDING
8-5
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 R H E
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 0 0 3 1 2 0 1 0 1 0 8 10 0
Spalding SPALDING 3 0 2 0 0 2 0 1 0 1 9 16 5

W: Holden Caplinger (1-0) L: Tomhave , Brennan (1-1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Slips at Spalding in Extras

Titans set for home opener Friday, March 20

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - An extra inning was not enough for the Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team to complete a late comeback, as the Green and White was swept by Spalding University, 9-8, Sunday, March 15 at Derby City Field. IWU saw its record dip to 1-11, while SU rose to 8-5.

Illinois Wesleyan used five different pitchers in the 10-inning game with senior Jack Flagg (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) earning the start. Flagg pitched just one inning and suffered four hits which brought in three runs. Senior Will Davidsmeier (Virginia, Ill.-Beardstown) logged the most innings in the ball game for the Titans. He went five innings, striking out five and allowed the same number of hits. Three runs crossed the plate under Davidsmeier's watch before giving way to senior Marshall Ingold (Rochester, Ill.-Rochester) to work a scoreless inning. Sophomore Brennan Tomhave (Pittsfield, Ill.-Pittsfield) suffered his first loss of the year, working just a third of the inning to close the game.

Junior Luca Morelli (Lincolnshire, Ill.-Adlai E. Stevenson) enjoyed a career day, boarding the bases five times. He finished at the plate two-for-two with a pair of doubles with three base-on-balls and drove in three runs to lead the team. Freshman Josh Gugora (Woodridge, Ill.-Benet Academy) recorded his first career multi-hit game and scored a run in his first collegiate start.

Spalding scored first for the third time in the series, striking an early lead with three runs in the first. A leadoff double got things started and was followed by a single two batters later. With two-outs in the inning, a line drive found the outfield grass and made its way to the wall after it was missplayed to bring home two more runs.

After scoring just four runs in the first two matchups, the Titan bats were ready to work. IWU broke through in the third inning with Gugora singling to start the frame. Sophomore Matt Hudik (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way East) dropped down a sacrifice bunt, but a throwing error led to Hudik hustling to second base, moving Gugora to third. A walk to the next batter set up bases loaded for sophomore Ben Ford (Naperville, Ill.-Waubonsie Valley). He shot a ball in the air which was dropped by the second baseman allowing Gugora to score the Titans' first run. Morelli battled to get into a hitters count and took the 3-1 pitch into left for a two RBI double.

Spalding snatched the lead right back with a mini two-out rally. A leadoff double set the stage, but was followed by a strikeout and a groundout. The next two batters singled to score a pair of runs for a 5-3 lead.

Hudik brought the Titans back within one in the fourth inning with a two-out double which scored senior Gage Wolfe (Bloomington, Ill.-Bloomington) who singled to start the inning. A scoreless bottom of the fourth brought IWU up in the top of the fifth. The Titans struck for two, and the lead, when senior Jack Flagg (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) and Morelli powered consecutive doubles to tie the game at five. Another error came back to bite the Golden Eagles when a wild throw led to the scoring of Morelli for a 6-5 lead.

Another lead change was in store as SU overtook IWU in the sixth. An infield single started the inning and a double would score the runner from first. A single to right field scored the seventh run of the game for the Golden Eagles and the Titans found themselves behind the eight-ball once again. The Green and White responded with another run in the seventh to tie the score at seven. Morelli reached base for the third time of the game via a free pass and was followed up with a two-out RBI double, splitting the left-center gap from senior Derek Ittner (Bloomingdale, Ill.-Bloomingdale).

Back and forth the two teams went when Spalding retook the lead in the eighth on an RBI single to take a one-run lead into the final frame. The Titans had one more rally left in them as a lead-off walk plagued SU to put the tying run aboard. The walk was followed by a strikeout and a groundout to bring up a pinch-hitter in junior John Phillip Ferraro (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) with two outs. Ferraro delivered the game-tying double on a 1-1 count which split the left-center gap.

A scoreless bottom of the ninth would bring on extra innings, but the Golden Eagle defense worked a scoreless top of the tenth and would walk-it off in the bottom half. A lead-off double and a single were followed by an intentional walk to load the bases, but another free pass to the next batter with the bases loaded would close out the sweep for Spalding.

Due to forecasted weather in Terre Haute, Ind. the contest against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology Tuesday, March 17, has been canceled. The Titans will return to Bloomington and prepare to host its home opening series against University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh, Friday-Sunday, March 20-22.
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