Blackburn Baseball Defeats Illinois Wesleyan

BLOOMINGTON, IL - Blackburn College Baseball faced an early deficit but were able to come back to defeat Illinois Wesleyan University 7-5 in a nonconference matchup. 

Freshman Diego Perez led the way with three hits, two runs and two runs batted in. Senior Isaac Gleaves added two hits while sophomore Harley Carney chipped in with two runs and freshman Dominic Medrano had two RBI's. 

The Beavers used seven pitchers in the game with senior Jason Hedges getting the victory and freshman Colton Bultema collecting the save. 

IWU got on the board first with a run in the bottom of the first inning but BC answered in the third when a Perez single scored Carney. They added another in the fourth with Gleaves' ninth homer of the season to take a 2-1 lead. 

Perez collected another RBI in the fifth off a single which scored freshman Gehrig Loera. 

The hosts added another run to narrow the lead to 3-2 but Blackburn answered with three runs in the top of the seventh. Carney got the run started when he scored due to an error by the Titans off a ball hit by junio RJ Arredondo. Medrano then doubled to score Arredondo and Perez to move the Beavers ahead 6-2. 

IWU rallied with three runs of their own in their seventh to narrow the gap again before Blackburn added an insurance run at the top of the ninth. Perez was hit by a pitch before senior Zach Knox walked. Medrano was then hit by a pitch to load the bases, and sophomore Brett Lander followed with a walk which allowed Perez to score.

Blackburn allowed a single in the bottom of the ninth then closed out the game with three straight outs to take the 7-5 victory. 

The Beavers will return to action Thursday when they host Principia College in the final St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference doubleheader of the season. During the games, the team will honor their three seniors.