The Beloit College baseball team claimed the Midwest Conference North Division title Sunday in a sweep of the University of Chicago on the road. The Buccaneers needed one win Sunday but grabbed two to capture their first divisional title since 2016. The 7-4 win in the opener secured the title with the Bucs capping the regular season on an 11-6 victory in the nightcap.

As the winner of the north division title, the Bucs advance to the MWC Championship and will host the winner of the south division, which has yet to be claimed, Saturday, May 22 in a best-of-three series. Game times and additional information will be announced soon. The winner of the MWC Championship will receive the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Tournament. MWC Statement on Spectators: Out of consideration for member institution campus visitor policies, the health and safety of MWC student-athletes and staff, as well as a desire to provide equity with respect to fan attendance, spectators will not be allowed at MWC spring divisional or conference championships. 

The Maroons were the first to strike in the opener as a leadoff double led to the first run of the game in the bottom of the first frame. Beloit evened the score in the top of the third on a two-out rally. Matt Crandall created the spark with an infield single. Nick Schmidt and Bronson Balholm followed with a walk and hit-by-pitch respectively to load the bases. Another walk, this one drawn by James Wicker, registered the Bucs' first run of the contest. 

Beloit added to their tally scoring two more, again with two outs. Brett Kiger notched a one out single to right field and advanced to second on a Deven Irwin walk. Drew Freitag's base knock to left loaded the bases once again. Following the second out of the frame, Schmidt came up with a clutch single to center that plated two to give Beloit a 3-1 advantage. 

The Bucs' offense continued to roll capitalizing on a few Maroon miscues in the top of the fifth. Wicker drew another walk to leadoff the inning. Garrison Ferone was choosy at the plate drawing a second straight base on balls for Beloit and chasing Chicago's hurler. Matt O'Leary hit into a fielder's choice with the Maroons successfully getting the lead runner for the first out. A Chicago error in the next at bat had the bases loaded for the third consecutive inning. Irwin capitalized with a two-RBI single through the left side to push the Beloit lead to 5-1. 

That score held for two innings before the Bucs added a pair in the seventh. O'Leary registered a one-out single down the left field line and two straight walks in the next two at bats had the bases full once again. An error by a Maroon outfielder plated one and Crandall brought in the second on a sacrifice fly to center to extend the lead to 7-1. 

After a scoreless seventh for the Maroons, Chicago put some pressure on the Bucs in the bottom of the eighth. A couple of singles mixed in with a double and a walk allowed Chicago to bring in three and had Freitag heading to the mound from his usual first base spot with two outs and a runner on first. It only took one pitch to get out of the inning as he forced a grounder to third with Wicker fielding and tossing to O'Leary for the fielder's choice out at second.

Beloit held a 7-4 lead heading into the bottom of the ninth. The Bucs got the leadoff man on a flyout to center. A single and a walk had the Maroons threatening but Beloit quickly dashed their momentum securing the second out on a groundout to O'Leary. Irwin hauled in a fly ball in right field to secure the win and the divisional title. 

The Bucs scored seven runs on seven hits, each by a different Beloit player. O'Leary and Kiger tallied two runs scored each while Irwin and Schmidt each recorded two RBI. 

Thomas Kosakowski tossed six innings of three hit ball, striking out four while allowing a single run to improve to 3-0 on the mound. Zachary Miller added 1.2 innings of relief before Freitag closed the game for his first save of the season allowing a single hit in the final 1.1 innings of work. 

With the divisional title already secured, the Bucs carried the momentum over into the nightcap to wrap up the 2021 regular season with another victory. 

The game went back-and-forth over the first four innings before a five-run fifth for Beloit stole the show and put the game out of reach. The Bucs added a single run in the seventh and two more in the top of the ninth while the defense held Chicago to three runs over the final five frames. 

Twenty-one Bucs saw action in the game as Wicker led Beloits offense with a perfect 3-3 performance in the batters box adding a run scored, two RBI and drawing two walks. 

Matthew Starr earned the win on the mound scattering five hits across six innings of work to improve to 4-0 on the season.