IWU baseball took down the Wheaton Thunder at home in CCIW conference play on April 21.

A Peterson Photo

Baseball Begins Pivotal Series with North Park

Titans will celebrate senior day Saturday, May 2

4/30/2026 3:30:00 PM

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. - The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team finishes its regular season with a vital three-game series with North Park University, Friday-Saturday, May 2-3. The two will begin the set Friday, May 1, in Chicago before bussing down for a senior day doubleheader Saturday, May 2, at Jack Horenberger Field. IWU is three games under .500 at 16-19 overall and a few games above the .500 mark in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play, sitting at 10-7. At home this season, the Titans are 9-3 but 7-15 on the road.

The importance of the final three games comes down to seeding in the conference tournament next week. A sweep of NPU will wrap up the number two seed for the Green and White, but anything less means IWU will need help from its neighbors up north, Carthage College and Carroll University, to take care of Augustana College for the three seed.

Sophomore AJ Weller (Geneseo, Ill.-Geneseo) is in the midst of his CCIW Hitter of the Week defense with a .383 batting average on the year. The lefty tops the hits category with 57, 19 of them being extra base hits. The shortstop has driven in 28 runs to go with 11 stolen bases, being caught just once. Junior John Philip Ferraro (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) is the RBI leader for the Titans, with a career-high 38 on the season. His 15 doubles lead the club.
In CCIW play, junior Jack Novak (Mokena, Ill.-Lincoln-Way Central) holds the top spot with a .520 average in league play. Novak has reached base safely in 20 straight games. Sophomore Ben Ford (Naperville, Ill.-Waubonsie Valley) sits just outside the top-10 across the league, as his .375 clip is good for 11th.

Senior Cole Shamhart (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) highlights the starting rotation for the Titans with his team-leading seven starts. His 42.1 innings pitched has resulted in a 3-1 result and 33 strikeouts. Sophomore Cade Addis (Fairbury, Ill.-Praire Central) and freshman Brayden Elliott (Gibson City, Ill.-Gibson City Melvin-Sibley) have been rock solid at the back end of the bullpen. Addis' 4.20 earned run average is second best among Titan relief pitchers, while Elliott's 2.61 is first. Elliott moved into third in saves in a season after collecting his sixth Wednesday, April 29, at Wheaton College.

North Park brings a 21-15 record into the final series of the regular season with an equivalent 10-7 mark in conference play. In 95 matchups since 1988, IWU has twice as many wins as the Vikings with 64 compared to NPU's 31. The Green and White dominated in the late 1990s and the 2000s, but the Vikings have had the Titans' number since 2017 with 17 wins in 23 contests. North Park swept Illinois Wesleyan a season ago and has won three straight against the Green and White.

The month of May opens with a 4 p.m. first pitch between IWU and NPU Friday, May 1, at Holmgren Athletic Complex. Illinois Wesleyan's senior day festivities begin at 12:30 Saturday, May 2, before first pitch at 1 p.m.

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