The Midwest Conference North Division title race will come down to the final regular season games this Saturday after Beloit split with the University of Chicago Thursday afternoon. The Buccaneers boast a 17-3 record in the MWC while the Maroons are 14-4 after the games in Beloit Thursday. The two squads will faceoff in the final set of regular season games Saturday in Chicago beginning at noon with the Bucs needing to win one game to secure the north division title. 

Thursday's doubleheader was a tale of two very different games for the Bucs. Beloit's offense took a while to get going while the defense tallied three uncharacteristic miscues as the Maroons plated 15 runs on 19 hits to win the opener 15-8. Even more uncharacteristic, the Buc offense left 17 on base in the opener, many in the opening frames before the offense came to life. Starting where the offense left off, the Bucs jumped out to a big lead and notched a clean game on defense en route to a 13-3, eight inning, victory in the nightcap. 

Chicago's offense took a big lead in game one. Bolstered by a five-run third and four-run fifth, the Maroons opened up a 12-0 advantage after five innings. The Bucs didn't fold, fighting their way back into the game to extend the contest inning-by-inning. 

A sacrifice fly from Bronson Balholm plated Drew Freitag to put Beloit on the scoreboard and spark the offense. In the next frame, Beloit took the run-rule out of play plating three. Deven Irwin brought in one on a groundout while Freitag drove in another on a single to center. The third run of the inning came on Nick Schmidt's RBI hit-by-pitch to make it 12-4. 

Chicago responded with three more in the top of the eighth but once again, the Bucs came back to extend the game. Freitag continued to have a game at the plate with a two-RBI base knock through the right side. Balholm walked with the bases loaded and James Wicker took one for the team in the next at bat to make it 15-8 after eight. 

The defense held but the Bucs were unable to mount the comeback. 

Freitag was a perect 2-2 at the plate adding three runs batted in, two runs scored and three walks in the game. 

Six Bucs saw action on the mound with Kaiya Nishino suffering the loss in four innings of work to move to 4-1 on the season. 

Beloit's offense flipped the script on the Maroons in game two, bolstered by an impressive performance by Brett Kiger, jumping out to a 6-0 lead after three complete. 

Garrison Ferone opened the scoring driving in the first run of the game on a RBI double to right field. Balholm also touched home in the frame on a wild pitch before Brett Kiger singled in Ferone for 3-0 lead heading into the second. 

Kiger got it done again in the third, doing what he does best, using the long ball. Blasting a homer over the left field wall, Kiger doubled up the Bucs' tally making it 6-0. 

Chicago came back with a single run in the fourth followed by a pair of runs in the fifth but Kiger had the answer. Drawing a walk in the bottom of the fifth, he advanced on a sacrifice bunt before moving to third on a groundout and eventually scoring on a wild pitch. 

The Bucs defense registered the play of the game on defense in the top of the sixth. After a leadoff single, a hard hit ball up the middle had the shortstop Ferone diving behind second, snagging the grounder, glove flipping to Matt O'Leary as he bolted to the base for the catch and cross-body fire to first. Freitag stretched, just able to keep his toe on the bag as the throw drifted up the baseline for the phenomenal double play stealing away any momentum Chicago could muster. 

Beloit added to their lead in the seventh. Ferone doubled to center and O'Leary singled through the left side bringing the big bat of the Bucs' designated hitter to plate. True to form, Kiger sent a pitch well out of the ballpark for his second three-run homer of the game to extend the Bucs' advantage to 10-3. Balholm made it 11-3 later in the inning with a sacrifice fly to right field. 

Needing two runs to enact the run-rule, Ferone kept the offense rolling with a single up the middle advancing to second in the next at bat on defensive indifference. O'Leary followed with a double to left center to plate and chasing the Maroon hurler from the mound. Chicago had no choice but to walk Kiger with a first base open. After a flyout that wasn't quite deep enough to plate the run from third, Freitag blasted a hard shot through the right side and head coach Dave DeGeorge was waving O'Leary home the whole time. Motoring around third, O'Leary slid head first into home touching safely for the 13-3 win. 

Kiger was a perfect 3-3 adding two walks, three runs scored and seven RBI. His RBI tally matches the program record posted by O'Leary earlier this season and Jon Moran from 2007. 

Tommy Murray scattered five hits across five innings of work while striking out three to improve to 2-0 on the season. Zachary Miller shut down the Maroons throwing three innings of one-hit relief.