Illinois Wesleyan

GAME NINE
There will be a new NCAA Division III baseball champion in 2011 as Illinois Wesleyan lost a 7-6 decision to Buena Vista on Friday, May 20, at Horenberger Field.
The Titans' season ends with a 28-18 record and continues a long stretch of non-repeaters - there has not been a back-to-back champion in Division III since Rowan in 1978 and 1979.
Buena Vista (31-15) will now play Carthage (31-11) at 12 p.m. on Saturday, May 21 in the first championship game and, if Carthage wins, there would be a second game immediately following.
Illinois Wesleyan scored a run in the second to take a 1-0 lead when freshman designated hitter Bobby Czarnowski led off with a walk and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore catcher A.J. Nathan. After freshman Jon Frericks grounded out to the right side to send Czarnowski to third, sophomore second baseman Anthony Lopez had an infield single to score Czarnowski.
The Titans made it 2-0 in the third in a similar fashion when senior centerfielder Ryan Hopp walked after a 12-pitch at bat, went to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore shortstop Zach Scott, and scored on a single to right by sophomore first baseman Kevin Callahan.
The Beavers took a 4-2 lead in the top of the fourth when Michael Hoffman led off with a single and scored on a double by Kevin Kloever. After Ryan Scheetz bunted the runner to third, Joe Paletta delivered an RBI single to center. Andy Compton singled to put runners at first and second and Dylan Colo forced Paletta with a grounder to third. A throwing error by senior Jeff Grodecki put runners at second and third, who were driven home with a single to center by Tyler Case.
Buena Vista went ahead 6-2 as it added two runs in the sixth when, with one out, Colo singled through the infield, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a Brad Blum single. Blum advanced to second on the throw home and scored on a Brock Yossi single to left centerfield.
IWU tied the game with four runs in the bottom of the eighth to make it 6-6 when they got a single from Frericks off Kyle Dupic with the bases loaded and a double from pinch hitter Kevin Sullivan to drive in Nathan and Czarnowski, who were walked by Dupic. A sacrifice fly by Grodecki drove in Frericks, who had singled ahead of Sullivan's double.
The Beavers scored after two out and no one on in the ninth. Kevin Kloewer walked and went to third on a Scheetz single. Paletta then delivered a base hit that barely snuck into rightfield to score Kloewer with the go-ahead run.
Buena Vista starter Reggie Kock went 7 1/3 innings and allowed three runs on five hits and five walks.
In the ninth inning, Beavers righthanded reliever James Stone (4-3) got Scott on a ground out and struck out Callahan before walking junior leftfielder Mark McDermott before getting Czarnowski on a ground ball to second base.
The Illinois Wesleyan losing pitcher was Anthony Kopp (2-3), who pitched 3 1/3 innings and struck out three while allowing three hits and walking two.

GAME EIGHT
The Carthage Red Men stayed alive with a 10-4 win over Thomas More in the NCAA Division III Central Regional at Illinois Wesleyan on Friday, May 20.
The Red Men (31-11) will play at 12 Noon on Saturday against the Beavers of Buena Vista.
Carthage opened the game up with six runs in the second. With one out, Chris D'Angelo doubled down the rightfield line and advanced to third on an error. Josh Albers grounded out to the second baseman to bring home a run and Kyle Pusateri doubled and went to third on an error on shortstop David Kennett. After Tyler Eickmeyer walked, Joey Aiello doubled home two runs with a ground rule hit. Will Hodges the drove home Aiello and Eickmeyer and John Hasser reached on an error, the Saints’ third of the inning, and Hodges scored an unearned run.
Eric Rohe improved to 7-2 by pitching eight innings and allowing 10 hits and struck out nine. Losing pitcher David Etscheid fell to 6-3 as he lasted only 1 2/3 innings although, due to porous defense, only two of the seven runs allowed were earned.
Kennett had three hits and Jason Handley had two hits for the Saints, whose season ends with a 29-9 record.

GAME SEVEN
The Illinois Wesleyan baseball team stayed alive in the NCAA Division III Central Regional with a 7-1 win over Ripon on Friday, May 20. The Titans will meet Buena Vista at 5 p.m. in an elimination game.
Sophomore lefthander Nick Mehn (7-2) scattered seven hits and struck out five while allowing only one run in the eighth inning.
He got offensive support from the lower part of the lineup as No. 8 hitter Jeff Grodecki and No. 9 hitter Jon Frericks each got three hits. Freshman designated hitter Bobby Czarnowski had two hits and two runs batted in.
Steven Blader (3-6) was the losing hurler as he allowed five runs (two earned) on nine hits in six innings.
The Titans opened the game up with five unearned runs in the last of the seventh. Grodecki led off with a single and Frericks followed with a single. Senior centerfielder Ryan Hopp walked to load the bases. Sophomore shortstop Zach Scott hit a groundball to first and Grodecki scored on an errant throw to the plate. The bases stayed loaded when sophomore Kevin Callahan forced Frericks at home. Junior leftfielder Mark McDermott then hit a ground ball to the third baseman and Hopp scored on another errant throw home. Czarnowski then singled through the right side to bring home Scott and Nathan singled to center to bring in Callahan. After a strikeout, Grodecki got his second hit of the inning and plated McDermott.

GAME SIX
The defending champion Illinois Wesleyan baseball team fell into the losers' bracket of the NCAA Division III Central Regional with a 7-1 setback to Buena Vista on Thursday, May 19 at Horenberger Field.
The Titans (27-17) will now play Ripon at 10 a.m. on Friday, May 20 - the games have been moved ahead two hours to attempt to get contests played prior to anticipated inclement weather on Friday night.
Junior righthander Joe Sweeney (6-5) took the loss as he allowed 11 hits and seven runs (five earned) in eight innings with three strikeouts and a walk.
The winning hurler was Michael Dirkx (4-3), who threw nine innings, scattered seven hits and caused the Titans to leave 10 men on base.
Illinois Wesleyan scored its only run in the third when senior centerfielder Ryan Hopp led off with an infield single and went to second with one out when sophomore first baseman Kevin Callahan was hit by a pitch. Callahan was forced at second and Hopp went to third on a Bobby Czarnowski ground ball and junior leftfielder Mark McDermott doubled to left center to score Hopp.
The Beavers used four sacrifice bunts to advance runners into scoring position and each time resulted in runs. Shortstop Brad Blum had three hits while third baseman Brock Yossi, first baseman Ryan Scheetz and designated hitter Joe Paletta all had two hit games. Yossi contributed two runs batted in

GAME FIVE
Thomas More scored two in the fourth, two in the seventh and one in the eighth to post a 5-3 win over Ripon in the NCAA Division III Central Regional on Thursday, May 19 at Illinois Wesleyan’s Horenberger Field.
The Saints (29-8) banged out 14 hits to survive to meet Carthage (21-19) in an elimination game at 1:30 p.m. on Friday. All game times in Bloomington have been advanced by two hours to get games played before an approaching rain.
The Saints plated two in the fourth when Sam Schmeltzer singled up the middle and went to third on a double by Andrew Thole. Ryan Darner singled to center field to bring home Schmletzer and send Thole to third. He came home on a double play.
Thomas More got two more with two outs in the seventh. Brandon Nutini was hit by pitch and shortstop David Kennett singled up the middle. J. Handley singled through the right side to load the bases before Schmeltzer singled home both runs.
Grant Lewis (9-2) went 7 2/3 innings to get the win, allowing six hits, striking out two and walking three. David Etscheid picked up the save by allowing no hits and striking out one in 1 1/3 innings. The Redhawks loser was Kurt Roeder (7-4), who surrendered four runs on 11 hits in seven innings.

GAME FOUR
The Carthage College baseball team (30-11) stayed alive at the NCAA Division III Central Region Championship by eliminating Coe College, 5-3, at Jack Horenberger Field in Bloomington, Ill. on Thursday, May 19.
In the Red Men's win over Coe, Carthage broke a scoreless tie with a two-run fourth inning. After loading the bases on a walk to Will Hodges, a Zach Kozlowski single and a walk to Kyle Pusateri, Matt Soderlund doubled in two runs. The Red Men upped their lead to 5-0 with three runs in the fifth. After Joey Aiello singled and Will Hodges was hit by a pitch, John Hasser singled in a run. Chris D'Angelo followed with a two-run, stand-up triple that got by a diving Coe centerfielder Nick Stein in right-center field.
Carthage pitcher Danny Dahm (5-0) was In command on this day - after allowing a single in each of the first three innings, he grazed Kevin Schuver with a pitch in the fourth. A double play ended that inning, and Dahm proceeded to retire the next 13 batters in order over the fifth, sixth, seventh and eighth frames.
With one out in the ninth, the Kohawks put runners on second and third on a walk to Stein, a balk and an error by third baseman Zach Kozlowski. Adam Nisenson followed with a single up the middle to score both runners, cutting the lead to 5-2. Schuver then hit a single to the hole that shortstop Pusateri threw away on the attempted force play at second base. Nisenson wound up at third and Schuver at second, with Ryan Schisler at the plate, representing the game-tying run. Dahm got Schisler on a swinging strikeout for the second out, but Ryan Velvick singled to center to score Nisenson, with Schuver stopping at third. With the tying run now at first base, Dahm got third baseman Kaileb Armstrong on a grounder to short to end the game.
Dahm allowed three runs, just one earned, on six hits and a walk over nine innings, while striking out six batters. Wade Morris (10-3) took the loss. Morris surrendered all five Carthage runs on seven hits and two walks over five innings. Alex Korth blanked the Red Men on one hit over the final three innings. D'Angelo went two-for-four with a triple and two RBI, while Hasser was two-for-four with a double and an RBI.

GAME THREE
The defending champion Illinois Wesleyan baseball team opened the NCAA Division III regional with a 3-2 win over No. 3-seed Thomas More as senior Jason Pankau won his career-record 25th game as a Titan. IWU plays Buena Vista on Thursday at 7 p.m. at Horenberger Field.
The Titans improved to 27-16 with the win and Pankau is 8-2 as he allowed 10 hits in a 144-pitch outing. Thomas More fell to 28-8 this season and will play Ripon at 3:30 p.m. Thursday.
The win raised IWU's overall NCAA postseason record to 20-16 in its ninth appearance and the Titans have won nine of their last 10 NCAA games over the past two years.
Pankau is now 25-5 in his career for an .833 winnng percentage and the mound victory eclipsed the old record of 24 career wins held by Adam Palmer, who was 24-15 from 1998 to 2001.
Pankau struck out seven Saints and extended his career strikeout record to 256 in his four seasons. He also improved to 6-0 In his last six postseason starts with 51 1/3 innings pitched, 39 strikeouts and only seven walks and 53 hits.
Illinois Wesleyan scored the game-winner on an unearned run with no hits in the ninth. Junior rightfielder Kevin Sullivan led off with a walk and went to second on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore shortstop Zach Scott. After a flyout to the second baseman, senior centerfielder Ryan Hopp hit a ball to Saints shortstop David Kennett, who threw the ball wildly for an error that allowed Sullivan to score.
Pankau worked out of a ninth inning jam to win the game. With one out, A. Clements singled to left field and Brandon Nutini was hit by a pitch to put runners at first and second. But the Titan righthander induced Kennett to hit the ball back to the mound to start a 1-6-3 double play and end the game.
The Titans got on the scoreboard with two in the sixth with two outs. Sophomore Kevin Callahan blasted a home run over the high rightfield fence, followed by a single by freshman designated hitter Bobby Czarnowski, who went to second on a wild pitch and scored on a single by junior leftfielder Mark McDermott.
But Thomas More tied the game in the bottom of the sixth as Nutini singled down the leftfield line and went to second on a ground out. Jason Handley doubled down the leftfield line to score Nutini. Sam Schmeltzer grounded out to move Handley to third and Andrew Thole walked. Ryan Darner then singled through the right side to score Handley.
Aaron Carmack pitched the first seven innings for Thomas More and allowed two runs on five hits but David Etschied (6-2) was the hard luck loser as he pitched the final two frames and allowed the one unearned run on no hits.

GAME TWO
No. 5 seed Buena Vista topped No. 2 Carthage, 8-1, in the second game of the NCAA Division III Regional at Illinois Wesleyan. The Beavers improved to 29-15 while Carthage fell to 29-11. Buena Vista will play at 7 p.m. Thursday against the winner of the game between Illinois Wesleyan and Thomas More while Carthage faces Coe at 12 p.m.
Buena Vista's Luke Probasco 8-3 scattered eight hits and struck out four.
The Beavers, who had 12 hits in the game, held a 2-1 lead and expanded it to 5-1 with three runs in the seventh and 7-1 with two more in the eighth.
The three runs in the seventh were indicative of how Buena Vista manufactured runs in the game – Dylan Colo reached on a bunt single, went to third with one out on a single by Brad Blum and scored on an error on the third baseman. Blum then stole third and scored on a Brock Yossi single to right field. Yossi went to second on a ground out and stole third before being brought home by a single by Kevin Kloewer.
In all, Yossi and Nick Maxwell each stole two bases and Blum had one, all of third base.
Carthage’s starting lefthander Mario Perez (3-4) allowed eight hits and five runs in seven innings. Red Men centerfielder Will Hodges had three of the team's eight hits

GAME ONE
The No. 6 seeded Ripon Redhawks scored runs in the first and second and Jason Wierschke scattered five hits in a complete game 3-2 win over No. 1 seed Coe at the NCAA Division III Regional Tournament at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington, Ill., on Wednesday, May 18.
Ripon improved to 21-18 and the Kohawks fell to 32-11.
The Redhawks scored in the first when John Henrickson led off with a single up the middle, went to second on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a double by Nick Beaman.
Ripon made it 2-0 in the second when Aaron Kastner walked, Zach Bayreuther singled, and Nick Hughes singled through the left side to score Kastner.
Ripon added their third run (unearned) in the fifth and Coe scored both of its runs in the sixth on three hits.
Wierschke (5-2) struck out three and walked two in the win while Kevin Baranowski (9-3) took the loss as he pitched seven innings, allowed eight hits and three runs (two earned).
Ripon will play next at 3:30 p.m. Thursday while Coe will play at 12 p.m.