BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[Gregory Sager]

Yeah... Carthage is UGLY right now. It is painful to watch (from a distance). Something HAS to change soon before it spirals so far it cannot be saved.

This might be a rhetorical question, but can it really get much worse than a 17-1 mercy rule loss to a 4-22 Ripon team?

And I thought it was pretty bad when last week Carthage pitchers plunked nine Wheaton batters en route to a 20-7 loss to a Thunder team that also isn't going anywhere this season.

[BigPoppa]

Yeah... Carthage is UGLY right now. It is painful to watch (from a distance). Something HAS to change soon before it spirals so far it cannot be saved.

This might be a rhetorical question, but can it really get much worse than a 17-1 mercy rule loss to a 4-22 Ripon team? 

If this was still a traditional Gordie Gillespie led Ripon Redhawk team that would be one thing, but I don't know if I've ever seen a worse Ripon team than this 2026 version.  Their series against Knox to finish out the MWC slate will likely determine who finishes in the MWC cellar this season.

Yeah... That loss to Ripon feels like rock-bottom.

[BigPoppa]

And I thought it was pretty bad when last week Carthage pitchers plunked nine Wheaton batters en route to a 20-7 loss to a Thunder team that also isn't going anywhere this season.

Something has to change. Granted, it's hard to follow a legend in the coaching world, but it feels like this is headed in the wrong direction fast.

[markerickson]

According to NPU's website, Millikin's Brayden Saling (9-0) picked up the victory against NPU.  Millikin's website lists Saling as a frosh INF.

[Gregory Sager]

According to NPU's website, Millikin's Brayden Saling (9-0) picked up the victory against NPU.  Millikin's website lists Saling as a frosh INF.

That listing was nothing more than either a Brandon Townsend typo when he submitted the roster to the SID or a sloppy input by the Millikin sports information staff when they put the roster online. It happens.

Saling just pitches. The only two-way player this season for the Big Blue has been starting 1B Mick Niebrugge, and he pitched in a grand total of one game for two back-end innings in a pitcher-eating 13-8 game back in February.

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin is clearly the best team in the league in 2026. The Big Blue wrapped up the CCIW portion of their season in stunning fashion, sweeping North Park in three games to clinch the outright title, the #1 seed, and tourney hosting privileges. The first game in Chicago was very competitive, the second game somewhat less so, and when the venue switched to Workman for Sunday's game it evolved into a rout in which MU played very well and NPU played very poorly.

The Big Blue proved why they have the second-best team ERA in all of D3, and their patient and effective ability to hold runners on first and set up double plays is remarkable. And that's not to mention the ability of their batting order to keep the line moving one thru nine, continuously putting pressure on opposing pitchers with a steady diet of singles, walks, and steals. The really amazing thing is how young a team Millikin has. The Big Blue will lose only outfielders Sam Bushur and Kolby Koslowski and modestly-used reliever Jayden McNaught to graduation. Everybody else who contributes is eligible to return, and the meat of the roster consists of sophomores. The Big Blue are set up to run away with the CCIW title again next season, and, although it's more difficult to look two seasons ahead, it's very conceivable that MU could put together a three-season string of blowout championships. That would make four CCIW titles in five years for Brandon Townsend, and it's worth speculating if he will still be around in Decatur by the end of all that or if he will have moved on to greener pastures.

With the early clinch this season, Townsend can now set up his staff however he likes in preparation for the tourney, as all the Big Blue has left is a Tuesday contest in Terre Haute against a decent RHIT team and a twinbill on Saturday at Workman against the hapless Crown Polars, who are 7-25 and are currently enduring a seven-game losing streak. They could probably send Lori Kerans out to the mound on Saturday and still beat Crown.

NPU has to shake off the ugly and disappointing weekend and get back to work, because what's become an even bigger series than the one the Vikings just ganked over the past two days now looms up ahead. That's because they're now 9-7 and in a second-place tie with Illinois Wesleyan, whom they'll meet in a three-game set to finish up the regular season next weekend. The Park has a game under the lights at Butterfield Park on Wednesday against Elmhurst, and while the Bluejays are in last place and are all but eliminated from tournament contention the game is far too big for the Vikings to approach it with anything less than deadly seriousness. Meanwhile, the Titans have an even tougher assignment that night, as they have to travel up to Carol Stream to take on Wheaton in what will be the final CCIW game for the Wheaties, who are right in the thick of the battle for a CCIW tourney spot. Since it's the last CCIW game for Wheaton -- they'll finish up with three games against Chicago next weekend -- it's pretty much a guarantee that Matt Husted is going to send his best pitcher, David Levengood, out to the mound at Pfund on Wednesday night to face the Titans.

After that, the showdown to get the #2 bye and stay out of Knockout Wednesday down in Decatur on May 6 commences, with the Vikings and Titans squaring off on Friday afternoon at Holmgren and then reconvening on Saturday down in Bloomington. This past weekend's battle was pretty huge for NPU, but avoiding that single-elimination monster in the opening round of the tourney is absolutely vital.

Since both NPU and IWU own their tiebreakers with Augustana (9-8), it's impossible for Augie to avoid Knockout Wednesday. The best that Augie can do is secure a #3 or #4 and give itself a "home" game at Workman in that single-elimination bloodbath on the 6th. Augie has a meaningless contest on Wednesday in Moline against Monmouth (13-20) that I'm guessing Greg Wallace will handle in bullpen-game fashion, and then winds it up with a Friday game at Carroll and a Saturday doubleheader at Carthage (IOW, likely an overnight stay for Augie in Wisconsin). Both of the CCIW teams from north of the Cheddar Curtain are trying to claw their way up and into the sixth and final tournament spot and will be in avoid-elimination mode, so there's no gimmes this coming weekend for Augustana.

Wheaton (9-10) claimed identical 9-5 wins over Carroll on Saturday in Illinois after dropping a 9-2 decision to Pioneers ace Tyler Fredrick on Friday up at Frame Park, and thus WC can secure a tourney spot by beating IWU at Pfund on Wednesday. Winning that game would also put Husted's boys in a good position to get one of the "home" #3 or #4 seeds for Knockout Wednesday with the win. A loss on Wednesday means that, while Wheaton would still be likely to get into the tourney, it would no longer be a guarantee, and WC would probably drop to a #5 or #6 seed.

North Central (8-9) didn't hurt itself by standing pat, as the Cards went 2-1 against outside competition over the past week. They will play it out with a Friday singleton at Butterfield and a Saturday doubleheader at Zimmerman, as they reap the benefits of a schedule that pits them against the last-place team on the regular season's final weekend. Elmhurst might already have been eliminated before the Bluejays even take the field against NCC, which is a dream scenario for Ed Mathey as his team tries to set itself up for a second chance at what has to date been a really disappointing season for the Cardinals.

Then there's the three teams that are currently on the outside looking in. I said a few days ago that if either Carthage or Elmhurst could sweep their three-game weekend series against each other, the winner might find itself in tournament contention. And that's exactly what happened, as the Firebirds ran the table against the 'jays and vaulted up to 8-10 and seventh place. They still need help to get higher up the table, but the object of late-season baseball is to worry only about the things you can control, which means that Carthage has to focus on beating their remaining CCIW opponent. After playing what will undoubtedly be a bullpenner at Lawrence on Wednesday afternoon (one would hope it would be a more competent bullpenner than that nightmare at Ripon this past week), the Kenoshans will conclude the slate with a Saturday twinbill at Schmidt against Augie. Given that Augie has plenty of motivation to maximize its position for Knockout Wednesday, I wouldn't be surprised if Greg Wallace uses Chance Carruthers or Blake Nettleton for four or five innings in one of those games (unless Augie immediately secures a big early lead and allows Wallace to turn the game over to the 'pen quickly), and, given where Carthage sits in the standings, if Carruthers or Nettleton takes the ball it could very well spell curtains for Carthage's season.

Carroll (8-11) suffered serious damage with those two Saturday losses to Wheaton, and the Pios will thus be in must-win mode on Friday against Augie at Frame Park. Not a doubt in the world that Stein Rear is going to send Tyler Fredrick, who is the CCIW's ERA leader in conference play at 1.58, out to the mound on Friday to face either Carruthers or Nettleton.

Elmhurst (4-12) is hanging on by its fingernails. Only the three teams immediately above them (North Central, Carthage, and Carroll) can finish 8-12 and tied with Elmhurst, and Carthage and Carroll own the tiebreakers over the 'jays. That leaves North Central, so in order to get that sixth and final tournament spot Elmhurst just has to beat North Park on Wednesday and then sweep all three from North Central this coming weekend while at the same time Augie wins at Carroll on Friday and sweeps the Saturday doubleheader at Carthage. No big deal, right?

[mr_b]

The final weekend of CCIW play has wrapped up in exciting fashion (and this is an understatement).  Millikin (15-5) had the luxury of sitting on the sidelines with the first seed already in hand. The all-important second seed came down to Saturday's twin bill between North Park and host Illinois Wesleyan.  The Titans (12-8) prevailed, winning game one, 10-3, and game two, 15-12.  That sweep pushes the Vikings into the knockout round on Wednesday against Wheaton (9-11). The Vikings had a particularly difficult final stretch with three-game sets against Augustana, Millikin, and Illinois Wesleyan, plus two against Elmhurst.  The Vikings went 5-6 against these four opponents.

Carthage (10-10) resurrected its season with a doubleheader sweep of Augustana (10-10), 10-6 and 11-1 (7 innings).  The Firebirds went 6-1 in their last seven CCIW contests to move into fourth place. The same two teams will play the first knockout game on Wednesday.

That left the sixth and final slot wide open.  In dramatic fashion, last-place Elmhurst stunned pre-season favorite North Central, taking two out of three from the Cardinals to knock them out of playoff contention.  The Bluejays won the Friday contest at home, 8-4. Then they won a really barnburner in Saturday's game 1 at Zimmerman by the football-like score of 25-21.  The Cardinals did salvage game 2, 15-10, but North Central (9-11) had already been eliminated from postseason play because Wheaton (9-11) held the tiebreaker over the Cardinals.  Carroll wrapped up its CCIW season with an 8-12 record.

Here is a link to the tournament website.

[Gregory Sager]

The final weekend of CCIW play has wrapped up in exciting fashion (and this is an understatement).  Millikin (15-5) had the luxury of sitting on the sidelines with the first seed already in hand.

I understand that Brandon Townsend likely had to schedule Crown as a late fill-in doubleheader foe for this weekend, but I'm not entirely sure why he felt it necessary to use his everyday starting position players deep into both ends of a 20-2 and 16-4 sweep, and, especially, why he felt it necessary to only use his top seven pitchers, who have worked almost all of MU's innings this season, against such a bad team. Did he just value keeping their arms warm and their bodies on a throwing schedule over the risk of one or more of them getting hurt in meaningless contests against a team whom the rest of his staff was more than capable of handling? This is not really a criticism, but a genuine question for anyone who has ever been a part of, or handled, a pitching staff.

The all-important second seed came down to Saturday's twin bill between North Park and host Illinois Wesleyan.  The Titans (12-8) prevailed, winning game one, 10-3, and game two, 15-12.  That sweep pushes the Vikings into the knockout round on Wednesday against Wheaton (9-11). The Vikings had a particularly difficult final stretch with three-game sets against Augustana, Millikin, and Illinois Wesleyan, plus two against Elmhurst.  The Vikings went 5-6 against these four opponents.

NPU ace Jackson Nuese pitched seven fantastic shutout innings against the formidable IWU offense on Friday at Holmgren, with his little brother Dawson and Vikings closer Ethan Condit wrapping up a 4-1 win on the back end. But NPU's pitching completely fell apart in yesterday's doubleheader at Horenberger; actually, almost every pitcher from both teams fell apart in yesterday's doubleheader, in what has become typical CCIW fashion, with the singular exception of IWU senior Cole Shamhart. A good pitcher who has had a bad season, Shamhart showed up in a big way and held down the Vikings in game one long enough for his team's bats to transmute a seemingly-endless string of seeing-eye-grounders through the infield holes into a 10-3 victory. The difference in IWU's 15-12 win over the Vikings in game two came down to timing; IWU had it in terms of clutch hits with runners in scoring position, and NPU -- which outhit the Titans (both teams' pitching staffs walked eight) both in quantity (16-15) and quality (six doubles and a homer to IWU's three doubles and no homers) -- couldn't sufficiently get it done when it mattered the way that IWU could. Thus, IWU gets the #2 and the bye while the Vikings have to deal with Knockout Wednesday and the likely duel between Jackson Nuese and Wheaton's David Levengood at Workman.

Carthage (10-10) resurrected its season with a doubleheader sweep of Augustana (10-10), 10-6 and 11-1 (7 innings).  The Firebirds went 6-1 in their last seven CCIW contests to move into fourth place. The same two teams will play the first knockout game on Wednesday.

Carthage consists of a bunch of guys who constantly swing out of their shoes. That, combined with a mediocre pitching staff, is a big reason why the Firebirds have played pretty poor baseball this season. But the saving grace of a team that swings for the fences in every at-bat is that they sometimes make contact. On Saturday, they made contact -- and how! -- against one of the better pitching staffs in the league. In game one they took Chance Carruthers (one of the CCIW's best starters) over the fence twice, and then they did the exact same thing to Brian Fischer, who is one of the CCIW's best relievers. In Carthage's run-rule game two win they went deep two more times, while getting a surprisingly sharp performance out of talented but preternaturally wild starter Wyatt Modory. Part of what makes a six-team tourney interesting is that teams that have spent two months playing baseball like they have no business being in the postseason can actually be in the postseason anyway. And this coming week every game that Carthage will play will begin with a 0-0 score, just as will CCIW champion Millikin's games.

That left the sixth and final slot wide open.  In dramatic fashion, last-place Elmhurst stunned pre-season favorite North Central, taking two out of three from the Cardinals to knock them out of playoff contention.  The Bluejays won the Friday contest at home, 8-4. Then they won a really barnburner in Saturday's game 1 at Zimmerman by the football-like score of 25-21.  The Cardinals did salvage game 2, 15-10, but North Central (9-11) had already been eliminated from postseason play because Wheaton (9-11) held the tiebreaker over the Cardinals.

This is an amazing and shocking upset. It speaks volumes about Joe Heller and his team. They have played bad baseball all season long and were the first team to be eliminated from postseason consideration, and yet the Bluejays had the moxie to rise up and play spoiler against their fellow DuPage County songbirds. Getting a healthy Rock Smith back in the lineup was a huge help in that regard, as the Bluejays' burly senior slugger went 1-3 with a homer in Friday's win and then 3-5 with a homer and 7 RBI in that beer-league opener EU and NCC played yesterday at Zimmerman.

North Central becomes the first CCIW team to be picked to win the league in the preseason coaches poll and yet fail to make the CCIW tourney at the end of the regular season since it happened to Augustana 11 years ago. The difference is that it was only a four-team tourney back then. While it didn't happen often, a preseason favorite would on occasion have that kind of out-of-the-running failure in the four-team-tourney era. But missing out on a tourney that includes six teams -- in other words, two-thirds of the league? Wow. That's epic. Somebody remove all of the breakables from Ed Mathey's office!

[cubs]

And I thought it was pretty bad when last week Carthage pitchers plunked nine Wheaton batters en route to a 20-7 loss to a Thunder team that also isn't going anywhere this season.

Something has to change. Granted, it's hard to follow a legend in the coaching world, but it feels like this is headed in the wrong direction fast.

What a difference a week makes!

[BigPoppa]

And I thought it was pretty bad when last week Carthage pitchers plunked nine Wheaton batters en route to a 20-7 loss to a Thunder team that also isn't going anywhere this season.

Something has to change. Granted, it's hard to follow a legend in the coaching world, but it feels like this is headed in the wrong direction fast.

What a difference a week makes!

Possibly the most inconsistent team in Carthage history.

[Gregory Sager]

Millikin wins the tourney and the CCIW's automatic bid with a 6-5 comeback/walkoff victory over North Park in Game Eight this afternoon at Workman. The Vikings self-destructed in the field, which came as no surprise; they were statistically the worst fielding team in the league in 2026, and it finally came back to bite them. They committed 16 errors in their five games in this tournament, none as costly as the three that they made in the waning innings in Game Eight that deprived them of a late two-run lead and eventually led to the Big Blue scoring the winning run on a wild pitch in the bottom of the ninth.

It overshadowed a gutty Saturday by the heavily-worked Vikings pitching staff, especially a really fine outing in Game Eight by Jackson Nuese, who was pitching on two days' rest after throwing 80 pitches as the starter in NPU's 5-4 Knockout Wednesday walkoff win over Wheaton. And the Vikings certainly hit well this week in Decatur, accruing a .339 team batting average in their five games. But their bad defense left the door open for Millikin, and the Big Blue, although not playing their best today, were good enough with their 'B' game to step through that door.

The big surprise of the tournament was Carthage, which finished third. The Firebirds certainly did a 180-degree turn over the past two weeks from a team that had easily been one of the two worst teams in the league up to that point in the season. They built upon their late-season heroics against Elmhurst and Augustana with a fine upset win over Augie on Knockout Wednesday, a good bounce-back triumph over Illinois Wesleyan after Millikin had bounced the Firebirds into the losers bracket, and a competitive performance against North Park this morning in the losers-bracket finale that kept them in the game until the man with the second-most interesting name in CCIW baseball, Carthage closer Santino Pignotti-Wojtak, finally ran out of the fuel in his tank -- as even good pitchers often do late in the tournament -- and gave up a clutch of late-inning runs taht allowed NPU to pull away to a 12-9 victory. Perhaps things aren't as bleak in Kenosha as they seemed for most of this spring.

The biggest disappointment of the year, of course, was North Central, but in terms of the tournament it would actually be a tossup between Augustana, which had five more hits than #5 seed Carthage but still managed to get knocked out by the Firebirds on Wednesday, 5-4, and #2 Illinois Wesleyan, which dropped back-to-back slugfests on Thursday -- 17-15 to North Park and 13-7 to Carthage -- that proved that the team ERA of 8.99 with which the Titans ended the season was no accident. Not only did the Titans give up 30 runs in their 0-2 performance on Thursday, but opposing hitters averaged .373 against their pitching. If I had to choose between the two for the Biggest Flameout Award, I'd give it to Wesleyan over Augie.

Special thanks as a North Park fan to all of the Vikings seniors whose careers ended today, especially the mainstays: Ethan "Ernie" Condit, the hardest-working arm in NPU baseball history; staff ace Jackson Nuese; heatmeister Sam Jackson; useful bat Enzo Vertucci; Rylan Kawakami for his sensational junior season last year and a solid last hurrah today against Carthage and Millikin; reliable bullpen arms Zach Price and Garon Maxon; and the estimable Joe Perona, whose most enduring contribution to CCIW baseball can best be described with a chart that combines the top ten base stealers in CCIW history with the leading base stealers of all nine programs:

1. Joe Perona, NPU	2023-26	106
2. Paul Biocic, NPU	1982-85	97
Joey Appino, CU	2023-26	97
4. Liam McGill, MU	2022-25	96
5. Randy Ross, NPU	1981-84	93
6. Boe Baitinger, CC	2006-08	89
7. Trevor Popp, NPU	2008-11	87
Jack Richarz, CC	1992-95	87
9. Mark Blakely, AC	2005-08	78
10. Phil Wojnicz, EU	1997-00	75
11. Jeremy Quade, NCC	2016-19	73
.	.	.
.	.	.
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.	.	.
.	.	.
Steve Townsend, WC	1986-89	64
.	.	.
.	.	.
.	.	.
.	.	.
.	.	.
Lou Perona, IWU	2022-24	57

Best of luck to each of the now-graduated Vikings in their future endeavors.