Beloit College Head Baseball Coach Dave DeGeorge recorded his 500th win as the Buccaneers split a doubleheader at Illinois College Saturday. Beloit dropped the opener 3-2 in 10 innings before taking the second game 9-5 for the milestone.
Since taking over the Buc baseball program in 1991, DeGeorge has reached a number of milestones growing the program to what it is today. With two conference titles and ten MWC tournament appearances, DeGeorge holds the most wins for a coach in the league. A four-time Midwest Conference Coach of the Year honoree, he has coached three Bucs to league player of the year honors, his athletes have garnered nearly 100 All-MWC accolades, he's coached 17 players to 26 All-Region honors and also brought in the first All-Americans in program history. Nearly every individual and team record for game, season and career marks in the program record book have come during his tenure. Additionally, he has coached nearly 150 Academic All-Conference honorees since the league began the recognition in 2006.
With the split Saturday, the league's race for the MWC Tournament tightens further. Lawrence, the regular season champion, and the University of Chicago secured their spot heading into the weekend leaving the final two tickets up for grabs. Ripon's split Saturday punched their ticket while Grinnell has been mathematically eliminated from contention due to tie breakers leaving the final spot to Beloit and Illinois College. That spot, and the seeding will come down to do the series finale in Jacksonville, Illinois tomorrow.
The first game Saturday was a thriller even though it ended in heartbreak fashion for the Bucs. The Blueboys took an early lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. The Bucs' offense struggled to get going but it took just one swing of Garrison Ferone's bat to keep the game going. In the top of the ninth, Ferone's two-run longball to center provided the much needed equalizer while the defense shutdown IC in the bottom of the frame to send the game into extras.
Beloit went down in order in the top of the inning. A one out single followed by a stolen base put a runner in scoring position for IC. That runner would come in to score for the walkoff on a miscue.
The Bucs came out on fire in the second game. Three consecutive singles opened the game and led to the first run of the contest. Brett Kiger followed with a one-out, two-RBI double to center and James Wicker drove in Kiger with another base knock to give Beloit a 4-0 lead in the first inning.
The Blueboys responded with three runs in the fourth and then a pair in the fifth to claim their first lead, 5-4.
The lead would shift back to Beloit's favor quickly as the Bucs used three hits in the sixth to plate a pair of runs to make it 6-5. Beloit added three runs for a cushion in the top of the ninth for the final.
The Bucs blasted 12 hits in the game led by a 3-5 game from Wicker. Kiger and Ferone also registered multiple hits in the game. Jacob Sligar was tapped for the start and registered the win going five innings to improve to 6-2 on the season.