The Beloit College baseball team will look for its first Midwest Conference title since 2016 this Saturday. The Buccaneers, winners of the North Division, will host the South Division champions of Illinois College Saturday, May 22 in a three-game series. The championship will be a battle of the brutes with two offense-heavy programs colliding with a spot in the NCAA tournament on the line.
 
The Essentials
Location: The Ballpark at Strong Stadium
Game Times: The best-of-three series will begin at 10 a.m. with each game starting approximately 30 minutes after the conclusion of the previous one.
Game Coverage: Live Video | Live Stats
Game Program
*This event is not open to the campus community or general public
 
The Heavy Hitters of Beloit
The Bucs rolled to a 24-4 record this season including a 19-3 mark in the North Division of the Midwest Conference. Beloit, one of the nation's top slugging teams all season, is ranked in the top ten in all of Division III in doubles per game (2^nd, 3.07), sacrifice flies (3^rd, 34), slugging percentage (3^rd, .575), triples per game (5^th, .71), scoring (6^th, 11.4), and triples (8^th, 20).
 
Beloit's potent offense is let by the big bats of Brett Kiger and Matt O'Leary. Kiger has perfectly embodied his main position as the designated hitter this season. With a .414 batting average the powerful righty boasts an on-base plus slugging percentage (OPS) of 1.359 with 36 hits this season. Incredibly, half of his hits have gone for extra bases including eight homeruns while his run batted in count sits at 46. Kiger has also been pegged by opposing pitchers 11 times and drawn 20 walks proving he'll get on base anyway he can for the Bucs.
 
O'Leary has put together a season worthy of not only conference player of the year honors but national recognition. The second baseman's defensive prowess may be surpassed by his offensive fire power. In 106 at bats this season, O'Leary has 45 hits including 19 for extra bases for a team-leading batting average of .425. He's tied with Kiger for the team lead and program record with eight round-trippers. On top of drawing 21 walks and being hit-by-pitch on eight occasions, O'Leary is a perfect 7-7 in stolen bases.
 
Not to be outdone, shortstop Garrison Ferone, catcher Bronson Balholm and centerfielder Matt Crandall all have averages over .360 with OPS marks over 1.100. Ferone increased his hit-streak to 34 games dating back to last season before it came to an end in the Bucs' first game in Chicago last weekend. He leads the team in hits with 46 and walks with 23 adding 12 doubles and four triples, both second-most by a Buc this season. Balholm runs the defense from behind the dish and is a threat from both batter's boxes as a switch hitter. He's accumulated 40 hits on the season including 12 doubles and a program record six triples while adding 28 free trips via the walk or hit batter route. Meanwhile, Crandall is tied for the team lead with nine stolen bases. He's hitting .364 with 36 hits including six dingers.
 
On the mound, Beloit has put together a great season despite losing two starting pitchers early on. Kaiya Nishino, Matthew Starr, Tommy Murray and Thomas Kosakowski have continued in the starting rotation combining for a 13-1 record, five complete games and two shutout performances. Nishino has notched two complete games on the mound this season, a rarity in today's game, and has tossed the most innings for the Bucs (35.2) but all four Beloit hurlers in the starting rotation have over 30 innings of work to their credit. Kosakowski, a towering right-hander leads the team with 23 strikeouts while Murray has held opponents to a batting average of .260.
 
Zachary Miller has been a key reliever for Beloit with an earned run average of 2.66 in 23.2 innings on the mound. Opponents are hitting just .205 off the lefty who has made 10 appearances this season. Drew Freitag boasts a 0.00 ERA coming in from his typical home at first base for nine innings on the mound. He's 2-0 this season as a reliever scattering four hits without allowing a single run in those nine innings.
 
With all of the fire power at the plate and efficiency on the mound, the Bucs' defense has produced more web gems than any other year. Fielding .957 as a team, it's rare for Beloit to go through a game without some type of incredible play whether it's a diving catch, a fantastic double play or a runner getting tossed out by the cannons in the outfield or behind the plate.
 
The Road from the North
The Bucs rattled off nine straight to open 2021 to set the program record for consecutive wins at 17 dating back to last season. Beloit bounced back from the streak breaker, a 10-9 loss at Ripon on April 20, with four straight victories against St. Norbert before the Red Hawks had the Bucs' number once again.
 
Following a non-conference loss at Knox, Beloit swept Lawrence in a four-game series that included three seven-inning affairs to set up the final series with the University of Chicago with the North Division title on the line. Beloit had to split the series, needing just two wins to advance to the championship
 
The Maroons, who had a break due to COVID mid-season, had played fewer games than Beloit but remained in second in the league standings. Chicago grabbed game one of the series in Beloit, 15-8. The Buc bats had started to heat up near the end of game one before exploding for a 13-3, eight-inning, win in game two.
 
Mother nature added to the drama as the Bucs headed to Chicago last Saturday but were unable to take the field due to rain. After a period of time hoping they could get the games in, the Maroons' staff called it quits until Sunday sending the Bucs back to Beloit only to turn around and make the trek Sunday morning.
 
Beloit made the most of it, topping the Maroons 7-4 to secure the North Division title and a spot in the MWC Championship before capping the regular season with an 11-6 win.
 
Long Ball Central – Illinois College
Beloit may have the top slugging team in the league but Illinois College is long ball central of the conference. The Blueboys, 19-17 overall and 16-8 in the South Division, are ranked fifth nationally blasting 1.33 homeruns per outing. Their 48 four-baggers this season is ninth-most in all of Division III.
 
Twelve Blueboys have gone yard this season led by ten a piece off the bats of Bailey Reed and Griffin King. The pair boast batting averages over .330, slugging percentage in excess of .670 and OPS marks well above 1.000. The powerful duo shares the team-lead with 12 doubles on the season. Reed is the squad's top run producer with an impressive 51 RBI, a top 15 mark in the nation. Pitchers have been stingy with what they give Reed as he's been walked 31 times.
 
Cullen McBride has made great strides in the second half of the season. In 19 games played, he's hitting .395 with a .737 slugging percentage, both team bests.
 
In addition to power at the plate, the Blueboys are aggressive on the base paths leading the conference in stolen bases. IC has stolen a bag successfully 79 times in 88 tries, also boasting one of the most efficient percentages in the league. Leading the speedsters is Peyton Phillis with 16 stolen bases this season. Peyton Abbott has swiped a bag 14 times while two other Blueboys have double digit steal marks.
 
Illinois College is a pitch-by-committee team with 11 Blueboys being tabbed for a start with nearly 20 seeing action on the mound. King leads the group of IC hurlers with the most starts (9), innings pitched (47.0), strikeouts (40) and wins (5) adding a complete game and a shutout in 2021 with an ERA of 5.74. McBride has the most appearances with 15, garnering just one start, while holding a 6.04 ERA in 22.1 innings of work.
 
The Journey from the South
The Blueboys had a rough start to the season dropping nine of their first 10 contests before wrapping up their early non-conference campaign with a pair of wins over Chicago.
 
Illinois College rolled to a pair of wins over Knox to open their MWC South Division slate to spark a run of six wins in eight games. The battle for the division lead went back and forth as the south squads handed each other losses. A tough four-game series in the final home-and-away with Grinnell had the Pioneers taking three over the Blueboys to make it a three-team race for the top.
 
The drama mounted with a few make-up games left to decide the title holder. Illinois College got the job done with a 10-8 win over Monmouth on May 17 but their fate was in the hands of the Fighting Scots who still had a double header left against Knox. Monmouth split the twinbill with the Prairie Fire handing Grinnell and IC share of the South Division title. The Blueboys held the advantage on the tie breakers earning their spot in the championship game.
 
The Next Stop
The MWC Championship is a best-of-three series with the winner receiving the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III tournament. If the Bucs win and earn the bid, it will be the third time competing in regionals in program history (2009, 2016). The complete tournament field will be announced via the NCAA by 11:59 p.m. Sunday, May 23.