BELOIT, Wis.- The Illinois College Blueboys defeated Beloit College to claim the 2021 Midwest Conference Baseball Championship. IC picked up a win in game one with a final of 6-3 and sealed the deal with a win in game two 8-1. 

Game 1- Illinois College 6, Beloit College 3

The Blueboys were able to catch some early momentum in the first game of the championship series. Bailey Reed would get his team on the board first with a home run in the top of the first. 

The slugfest continued with James Marcinkowski hitting a homer in the top of the fourth to put the Blueboys up 2-0. Reed would go the distance again hitting his second home run of the day bouncing off the Beloit scoreboard. 

Beloit was able to put together a comeback in the sixth and seventh to tie the game at 3-3. Illinois College would answer right back scoring three runs in the bottom of the eighth to seal the win in game one. 

Ryan Matheny would earn the win at the mound pitching one inning with one strikeout. Christian Stawar had an impressive showing pitching the first six innings finishing with three strikeouts. Cullen McBride was awarded the save pitching the last two innings earning two strikeouts. 

Game 2- Illinois College 8, Beloit 1

IC looked to carry over the same energy into the second game of the championship series. McBride would hit a sacrifice fly to bring in a run by Tyler Blum in the bottom of the first to put IC ahead. Beloit tied the game in the top of the third with a double by Nick Schmidt. 

After that, it was all Blueboys. Cade Henneman homered in the fourth bringing in a run by Caleb Uselton to make the score 3-1. Tyler Blum would follow with a solo home run of his own to add to the Blueboys lead. 

IC scored four more runs in the sixth and seventh to seal the victory and claim the 2021 MWC title. This earns the team an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Baseball Tournament.

Griffin King earned the win at the mound pitching 6.1 innings with eight strikeouts. Kole Lowry and Levi Parkevich would come in to help finish the game and grasp the win for IC. 

This is the first team in program history to win the conference championship and earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament. Tune in to NCAA.com to find out who the Blueboys will face in the first round on Sunday, 5/23 as the bracket will be revealed in a press release.