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DECATUR, ILLINOIS MAY 7TH, 2026 - Game Four of the 2026 CCIW Baseball Championship Tournament: #2 Illinois Wesleyan University vs #3 North Park University (Photo by Ashtin Elder)
AJE Photography 2026
17
Winner North Park NORTH PA 23-17
15
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 18-20
Winner
North Park NORTH PA
23-17
17
Final
15
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES
18-20
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
North Park NORTH PA 3 0 1 7 2 2 0 0 2 17 19 4
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 0 4 4 2 4 0 0 1 0 15 12 5

W: Ethan Condit (6-2) L: Costello, Luke (0-4)

7
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 18-22
13
Winner Carthage CARTHAGE 20-21
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES
18-22
7
Final
13
Carthage CARTHAGE
20-21
Winner
Score By Periods
Team 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Ill. Wesleyan ILL. WES 0 1 2 0 0 2 2 0 0 7 7 3
Carthage CARTHAGE 0 5 1 0 4 0 3 0 X 13 12 2

W: Diego Tafolla (1-0) L: Shamhart, Cole (4-2) S: Hunter Becker (1)

Game Recap: Baseball |

Baseball Bounced in CCIW Tournament

Titans finish runnerup in CCIW Regular Season race

DECATUR, Ill. - The second-seeded Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team closed its season on day two of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament with losses to No. 3 seeded North Park University, 17-15, and fourth-seeded Carthage College, 13-7, Thursday, May 7, at Workman Family Baseball Field on the campus of Millikin University. IWU posted an 18-22 record and a 12-8 mark in league play. 

North Park improves to 2-0 in the league's tournament and will play tournament hosts No. 1 Millikin University tomorrow. Carthage, 2-1 in the tournament, will await the loser of the Vikings and Big Blue.

Game One: Illinois Wesleyan 15, North Park 17
Sophomore Brennan Tomhave (Pittsfield, Ill.-Pittsfield) made his first career postseason start, going 3.2 innings with eight hits and eight runs, four of them earned. Sophomore Cade Addis (Fairbury, Ill.-Praire Central) finished off the fourth inning before fellow lefty senior Luke Costello (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove) went 4.1 innings to save the bullpen.

Senior Jack Flagg (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) led the bats in the 12-hit attack for IWU. Serving as the designated hitter, Flagg struck for three runs batted in on two hits, including a home run. Sophomore 1-2 punch of AJ Weller (Geneseo, Ill.-Geneseo) and Matt Hudik (Frankfort, Ill.-Lincoln-Way Central) accounted for two RBI's and a pair of hits apiece. The Green and White worked nine walks and reached on four errors.

Tomhave was tagged for three runs in the top of the first inning. The Vikings took advantage of a pair of walks and capitalized with a single and a groundout before a wild pitch brought in a third run. The Vikings used back-to-back singles to keep the rally going, but Tomhave buckled down with an inning-ending groundout.

After stranding two in the first, Illinois Wesleyan struck in the second. Following a 1-2-3 inning from Tomhave, Flagg drove a double to right with one out. Senior Gage Wolfe (Bloomington, Ill.-Bloomington) singled to put runners on the corners. Senior Tommy Willard (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove South) drove in a run and then scored on a double off the bat of Hudik. An error knotted the game at three all and another miscue pushed the Titans ahead, 4-3, into the third.

North Park did not trail for long as it used a two-out rally to produce its fourth run of the game. An error started the inning but two groundouts put a pair of outs on the board with a runner on second. A seeing-eye single made its way through the left side to score the tying run but Tomhave buckled down again to limit the damage to just that.

Illinois Wesleyan broke the tie quickly, hanging a four spot up in the third on just two hits. With one out, Flagg reached on an error and Wolfe followed with a single. Another error loaded the bases and consecutive walks to Hudik and Weller gave the Titans a 6-4 lead. Ford roped the inning's first single to plate another and a sacrifice fly from Ferraro gave the Titans another run. 

The organized chaos continued as the Vikings batted around in the fourth. Two singles sandwiched an error to load the bases as NPU crept closer with a sacrifice fly to left. The next three batters went single, ground out, and double knotted the score at eight. A single gave the Vikings the lead, 9-8. Another single made it 11-8 but an incredible play by Wolfe cut down another runner trying to score. 

The Green and White had another response ready in the bottom half as Morelli started the action with a single into left. Flagg connected on a 1-2 pitch and sent it over the wall in left-center to put the Titans in double-digits, 11-10. North Park grew its lead in the next inning, tacking on two more on a triple and an error. Down 13-10, IWU started the sixth with a Weller double and back-to-back walks to load the bases. A third straight walk plated the Green and White's 11th run and a hit by pitch scored another. Flagg reached on a fielder's choice to tie the score at lucky 13 before Wolfe hustled out a fielder's choice of his own to give the Titans the lead, 14-13.

The back-and-forth continued as consecutive singles started NPU's top of the sixth with runners on first and second. A double-steal put IWU behind the eight ball as a groundball to Wolfe tied the score. The Vikings regained control of the high-scoring affair with a single back up the middle, 15-14. The Titans were blanked in the seventh, and looked like the same in the eighth, until a two-out walk broke up the Vikings flow. Weller followed the walk with a drive into right-center for a game-tying RBI triple.

North Park started the ninth with a single into right and a bunt moved the runner up 90 feet. A pair of free passes were handed to the next two batters to set up the game-winning two RBI single. 

The 32 combined runs are the most in the CCIW tournament since Elmhurst and North Central tallied 33 runs in 2003. The last time Illinois Wesleyan put up 15 or more runs in the conference tournament was 2010 when the Titans scored 16 runs against North Central. 

Game Two: Illinois Wesleyan 7, Carthage 13
The elimination game put Illinois Wesleyan against Carthage in the teams' third matchup of the year. CC defeated the Titans twice in the regular season and finished the sweep at Workman Field

Senior Cole Shamhart (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) started his final game of an impressive career. He pitched the first two innings before giving way to freshman Anthony Fry (Libertyville, Ill.-Libertyville). Fry went the next 2.1 innings and was relieved by junior Caleb Martinez (Wheeling, Ill.-Wheeling). Sophomore Luc Lawler (Naperville, Ill.-Benet Academy) worked a scoreless eighth inning.

Weller contributed two more hits and an additional three RBI's to cap his first season as a Titan. Illinois Wesleyan concluded the game with seven hits and seven walks. 

Junior John Philip Ferraro (Oak Park, Ill.-Oak Park River Forest) singled through the left side to start the second for the Titans and moved to second on a wild pitch. Junior Jack Novak (Mokena, Ill.-Lincoln-Way Central) took first on a walk and both base runners advanced a base on a groundout. Another free pass placed Flagg at first to load the bases one out, but the second occurred quickly after on a flyout. As the prime scoring chance looked to spoil, a balk brought home Ferraro as IWU scored the first run of the game.

Carthage began the second by reaching on back-to-back errors and the Firebirds took full advantage. A sacrifice bunt and a pop up put outs on the board but consecutive walks and a single made it 3-1 CC. Carthage rallied for three more RBI singles, cashing in the errors and walks. Down 5-1, the Green and White crept back with the top of the order. Hudik walked and Weller hit a high fly into the rain down the left field line that fell past the oncoming left fielder which scored Hudik. Ford singled to follow Weller and a wild ball four to Ferraro scored Weller to cut the deficit to 5-3. CC cashed in on another IWU error on a single to grow its lead to 6-3 in the bottom of the fourth. The Firebirds kept the singles coming as three of them brought home a run and set the table for the biggest swing of the night, a three-run home run made it 10-3. 

After a 25-minute lights malfunction, Wolfe and Hudik reached in the sixth to bring up Weller with two outs. The Second Team All-CCIW member smoked a triple down the left field line to cut the lead in half, 5-10. An inning later, IWU took advantage of two free passes and an error the Firebirds gifted. The walks were followed by a groundout for out number two and Wolfe rolled a hard-hit that snuck under the first baseman's glove to score Novak and Morelli.

Carthage stopped the Titans' comeback right there as it tallied three more in the seventh and closed out the final two innings.

The defeat to the Firebirds closes the careers of 10 seniors. Jonathan Ciullo (Libertyville, Ill.-Libertyville), Will Davidsmeier (Virginia, Ill.-Beardstown), Marshall Ingold (Rochester, Ill.-Rochester), Jake Pullam (Palatine, Ill.-Palatine) and Nathan Waterman (Downers Grove, Ill.-Downers Grove South) closed out their respective careers along with WIllard, Wolfe, Shamhart, Flagg, and Costello. Together, the group combined for 91 wins, four CCIW Tournament appearances, and a regular season championship. 


 
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