Three Division III Illinois baseball teams are ranked in the Pre-Season poll released by Collegiate Baseball Newspaper.
The highest ranked team on the poll is Concordia University Chicago, ranked #13. Concordia is also ranked #16 on the Pre-Season Poll released by D3Baseball.com. Concordia finished last season at 39-7.
Augustana is also on both polls coming in at #22 on Collegiate Baseball Newspaper and #21 on D3Baseball.com. Augustana finished at 34-11 in 2013.
Illinois Wesleyan is the final Illinois D3 baseball team on the Pre-season Polls coming in at #26 on the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper poll. Illinois Wesleyan finished 2013 with a record of 33-14.
D3Baseball.com announced the 2012 NCAA Division III All-American baseball team yesterday and below are the players from Illinois.
First Team All-American
3B Kevin Callahan, Illinois Wesleyan. The junior infielder hit .355 with 17 doubles, 11 home runs and drove in 54. Kevin is from Brother Rice HS and lives in Chicago, Illinois.
Second Team All-American
3B Anthony Even from Concordia. Even hit .432 with 22 doubles, 2 triples, 2 homers and 38 rbi's. Anthony is from West Leyden HS and lives in Franklin Park, Illinois.
Pitcher Drew Gay from Aurora University. Drew went 8-0 with a 1.63 ERA in 77 1/3rd innings, struck out 67 and walked 16 for the Spartans. Drew is from Marquette HS and lives in Marseilles, Illinois.
Third Team All-American
3B Tim Mackey, Aurora, Tim hit .391 with 5 homers, 19 doubles, 2 triples and drove in 32. Tim is from East Leyden HS and lives in Rosemont, Illinois
Utility player Drew Golz from Wheaton College, Drew hit .404 with 4 homers, 12 doubles and on the mound Golz went 8-2 with a 2.52 ERA. Drew attended Oak Park-River Forest HS and lives in River Forest, Illinois.
Honorable Mention
Pitcher Nick Soldano from North Park, Nick went 9-2 with a 3.12 ERA in 101 innings. Nick is from Zion-Benton HS and lives in Lake Zurich, Illinois.
College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin tournament champion North Park earned the automatic bid into the NCAA Division III postseason tournament by capturing their first conference title since 1990. North Park will face St. Scholastica on Wednesday 5/16 in Whitewater Wisconsin at the Whitewater regional.
Illinois Wesleyan received an at-large bid into the NCAA Division III post-season tournament. The Titans will travel to Millington, Tennessee and play Birmingham-Southern at the Millington Regional on Wednesday.
The Illinois Wesleyan Titans are fighting to stay alive in the Central Regional of the NCAA Division III Baseball National Tournament.
Illinois Wesleyan, last years National Champion, moved into the losers bracket after a 7-1 loss to Buena Vista yesterday. The Titans will now play Ripon at 10:00 am today looking to stay alive in the tourney.
The only other Illinois Division III team, Aurora University, fell out of the National Tourney with an 8-3 loss to St. Thomas yesterday.
Illinois Wesleyan swept a double header 15-0 and 8-0 over North Central College to put the Titans in a first place tie with Carthage College on top of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin. If Illinois Wesleyan and Carthage tie for first in the CCIW, the two teams will both be co-champions but Illinois Wesleyan would be the host of the conference tournament since they won two out of three from Carthage.
Illinois Wesleyan plays North Central College at North Central today at 2:00 pm and Carthage plays at North Park at noon.
The NCAA Division III Baseball Committee released its first regional poll for 2011. Below are the rankings for the Central Region, which include the only Illinois Teams.
1. Coe College
2. Carthage College
3. Buena Vista
4. Illinois Wesleyan
5. Augustana
6. Washington U.
In the latest Division III national baseball polls both Concordia University and North Park University earn spots on the poll for Illinois teams. Augustana, who was ranked 13th has dropped off of the national poll as of April 25th.
Concordia (23-5) is ranked at #20
North Park (24-7) is ranked at #25
Illinois Wesleyan and Augustana did receive votes but did not make the rankings this week.
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| Kevin Callahan |
Kevin Callahan from Illinois Wesleyan and Steve Kuligowski from North Park both earned the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin baseball Players of the Week on April 12th.
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| Steve Kuligowski |
Sophomore first baseman Callahan hit .572 with a homer, a double, eight rbi's and seven runs scored for Illinois Wesleyan last week. Kevin went 5-5 in an 18-13 victory over Augustana on April 5th. Kevin is from Brother Rice High School and lives in Chicago Illinois.
Junior pitcher Steve stuck out 10 and walking one last week. Steve leads North Park with a 5-1 record and 47 strikeouts along with a 2.72 ERA on the season. Steve is a transfer from Parkland College and lives in Grayslake Illinois.
Defending Division III National Champion Illinois Wesleyan top returning players for 2011:
C - Mark McDermott - .363 BA, 14 doubles, 37 rbi's, Andrew High School, lives in Tinley Park IL.
3B - Jeff Grodecki - .345 BA, 14 doubles, 45 rbi's, Glenbrook South High School, lives in Glenview IL.
OF - Ryan Hopp - .340 BA, 10 doubles, 10 stolen bases, Hinsdale South High School, lives in Darien, IL
SS - Zach Scott - .263 BA, 33 rbi's, St. Charles East High School, lives in St. Charles IL.
OF - Kevin Sullivan - .290 BA, 7 doubles, 3 homers, Highland Park High School, lives in Highland Park IL
1B - Kevin Callahan - .286 BA, 2 homers, 19 rbi's, Brother Rice High School, lives in Chicago IL.
INF - Anthony Lopez - .245 BA, started 32 games as a Freshman, Naperville Central High School, lives in Bolingbrook, IL
RHP - Jason Pankau - 11-2, 2.60 ERA, 3rd Team D3 Baseball All-American, York High School, lives in Elmhurst IL
RHP - Joe Sweeney - 4-2, 5.40 ERA, Fenwick High School, lives in Chicago, IL
LHP - Nick Mehn - 2.40 ERA, 15 IP, 14 strikeouts, Limestone High School, lives in Peoria IL.
Head Coach: Dennis Martel - 595-368 with Illinois Wesleyan.
The Illinois Wesleyan Titans, last years Division III National Champions, are ranked 5th on the Collegiate Baseball Newspaper pre-season poll. The Titans finished the 2010 season with a 31-21 record.
Other Illinois teams that received votes but did not land in the rankings are:
North Central College (31-11)
North Park (28-15)
Aurora University (27-16)
When Illinois Wesleyan lost to SUNY Cortland 11-10 on Monday it wound up setting up a winner take all championship game between the two teams on Tuesday.
Illinois Wesleyan left no doubt on Tuesday capturing the Division III World Series 17-5 over SUNY Cortland and giving the Titans and the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin their first Baseball National Championship.
After Cortland scored a pair of runs early, Illinois Wesleyan scored one in the second, three in the third, four in the fourth and nine runs in the fifth to take a 17-2 lead after five innings.
Jeff Grodecki finished the day 5-5 with two homers, four runs scored and three rbi's. The junior third baseman was named the tournament's "Most Outstanding Player". Grodecki was joined on the all-tournament team by senior first baseman Casey McIntosh, sophomore catcher Mark McDermott and junior pitcher Jason Pankau.
The Titans finished the season at 31-21 and with the 21 losses became the Division III with the most losses in a season.
The Illinois Wesleyan Titans capturred the Central Region Championship with a 10-3 win over Buena Vista. The Titans (27-20) will now move on to Appleton Wisconsin and play Shenandoah (38-8) at 7:45 pm on Friday May 28th.
Wesleyan catcher Mark McDemott was named the regional's "Most Outstanding Player", first baseman Casey McIntosh, pitcher Jason Pankau, third baseman Jeff Grodecki and outfielder Ryan Hopp all joined McDemott on the all-tournament team.
Jason Pankau (9-2, 2.67 ERA) has been listed as one of the 8 players to watch in the D3 Championship round.
Illinois Wesleyan (23-20) will make it's eighth apperance in the Division III Baseball Championship by defeating Carthage twice Sunday and capturing the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Tournament title. By winning the CCIW tournament the Titans received an automatic bid to the 2010 NCAA Division III Baseball Championships.
Illinois Wesleyan will move on to the Central Regional, hosted by Augustana College in Moline Illinois, as the #6 seed.
Regional games will start on Wednesday, May 19 2010.
North Central College lands the number one seed in the 2010 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Baseball Tournament with a 17-4 conference record and 31-7 overall.
The 2010 tourney starts Friday May 14th at North Central College - the full schedule is below.
May 14th
Game 1 - North Park vs Carthage 12:00 pm
Game 2 - North Central vs Illinois Wesleyan 3:00 pm
May 15th
Game 3 - Loser game 1 vs Loser game 2 9:30 am
Game 4 - Winner game 1 vs Winner game 2 12:30 pm
Game 5 - Winner game 3 vs Loser game 4 3:30 pm
May 16th
Game 6 - Winner Game 4 vs Winner game 5 10:00 am
Game 7 - If necessary - repeat of game 6 1:00 pm
Baseball in Illinois News
Jason Pankau pitched a seven-inning one-hitter in an Illinois Wesleyan 11-1 win over Benedictine Saturday in St. Louis. Panko struck out 14 and Mike Morrissey had two hits including a home run, Casey McIntosh had two rbi's with a single and a walk.
Baseball in Illinois News
The Illinois Wesleyan baseball team fell to 1-4 this season as it dropped an 8-7 game to Millsaps College in Jackson, Miss., on March 16.
Kevin Callahan went 1-3 with a homer and three rbi's, Mike Morrissey 3-5 with an rbi and Zach Scott was 2-4 with 2 rbi's.
Baseball in Illinois News
The Illinois Wesleyan baseball team has been tabbed to finish second in the annual College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) head coaches' poll, announced on Wednesday, February 10.
The Titans, who were 24-16 last year and 14-7 in conference play, received 42 points with two first place votes as the coaches picked Carthage to defend its 2009 league title, giving them five first place votes and a total of 47 points.
Among the key offensive returners for Illinois Wesleyan, the 2007 and 2008 CCIW champions, are senior second baseman Brett Moore and senior outfielders Mike Morrissey and Kraig Ladd.
Moore was second on the team with a .383 batting average and had 11 doubles, two home runs and a team-leading three triples. His team-best 64 hits is the seventh best in an Illinois Wesleyan single season.
Moore committed only four errors in 194 chances for a .979 fielding percentage.
Morrissey led the Titans with a .394 batting mark, the 18th best in an IWU single season. He had seven doubles, two home runs and drove home 23 runs. He also provided nine sacrifce bunts, third most in a Titan season.
Ladd, a second team ABCA/Rawlings all-region player in 2009, batted .340 with 10 doubles, 38 runs batted in and a team-high nine homers.
Jason Pankau (5-0, 4.73 ERA) Joe Froelich (5-3, 2.15 ERA), Paul Kabbes (3-2, 2.94 ERA) and Alex Tosi (4-0, 3.02 ERA) are among the top returning pitchers from 2009 and the Titans also return Brent Kulavic, who missed last season due to injury.
In 2008 the righthander was 6-1 with a 1.82 ERA, averaging 8.95 strikeouts per nine innings and was National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association Central Region Pitcher of the Year, CCIW "Pitcher of the Year", a D3Baseball.com honorable mention All-American and an American Baseball Coaches Association (ABCA) first team All-Central Region selection.
D3baseball projections and top players from the CCIW.
CCIW pushes forth a few candidates as well in to Challenge Carthage in Illinois Wesleyan, Augustana and Wheaton (IL).
Carthage Head Coach Augie Schmidt (699-274-5, .715%) is a single victory short of 700 career wins and this season should see him keep on winning. Winning the CCIW will not be an easy task for the Red Men as their two biggest guns from 2009 are absent from the roster. D3baseball.com All-American RHP Trace Ruffie (Arlington Heights - Hersey) will miss the entire 2010 season after off-season Tommy John surgery and while ABCA All-American RHP Jordan Jaehne-Llanas has transferred leaving the burden of the pitching expectations to fall on two-time All-CCIW selection, junior Mario Perez - 6-1, 4.09 ERA (Gurnee, Illinois - Warren Township High School).
The Red Men return seven of their nine starters from a team that reached the national semi-finals in 2009. Carthage has added a Division I transfer in Matt Soderlund (Valparaiso) to replace CCIW player-of-the-year catcher Mike Hughes who graduated in 2009. #8 Carthage may stumble out of the gate with a brutal stretch of games that pits them against #2 Wooster twice, #14 Heidelberg, #6 Kean and #1 St. Thomas in their first week of action, but this will only prepare them for the post-season run they have grown accustomed to.
The Titans of Illinois Wesleyan appear poised to make a run to challenge Carthage for the CCIW title. All-American pitcher Brent Kulavic returns after missing all of 2009 with an injury to boost the Titans chances along with seniors Kraig Ladd - Shelbyville High School, Shelbyville, Illinois (.410 in CCIW) and Brett Moore - Bloomington High School, Bloomington, Illinois(.383) who both pounded CCIW pitching in 2009.
The CCIW has been dominated by these two powerhouses, with no one else winning the title since 1998, but 2010 could be the breakthrough for the Wheaton Thunder, who qualified for their first ever post-season in 2009. Shortstop Brian Kolb, First Team All-American, in 2008, leads a powerful lineup.
The conference is full of tremendous talent including Minnesota Twins draftee Pitcher Mike Giovenco - (Fenwick High School), of North Park and five All-CCIW selections from Wheaton (Brian Kolb-INF, Charlie Antal- OF, Ryan Miller-INF, Steve Dennison-UTL and Tim Urbanowicz- P).
