The Illinois Wesleyan University baseball team swept Carthage College on Friday, April 7. The two-game series win upped the Titan’s overall record to 7-14 (3-2 in the CCIW).
Sophomore pitcher Dalen Banks proved to be the difference maker once again for the Titans as he notched his fifth win of the year.
A career-high 10-strikeout game for Banks was the first time a Titan pitcher threw 10 plus strikeouts since Jacob Duffy on April 9 of last year against Elmhurst University.
Banks’ early success with the Titans this season has seen him garner a CCIW Player of The Week award and an undefeated personal season. This comes after spending a year at John Wood Community College in Quincy, ILL
Despite Banks’ busy schedule, he was able to spare a couple of minutes to sit down and answer questions for “The Argus.”
Q. An amazing start to your first year here at IWU can you just speak a little about your year individually?
A. My year here at IWU has been nothing but success so far and I pray that it stays the same. There isn’t one thing I would change about the experience here. I have made a lot of close friends on the team and throughout the school.
Q. You had 10 strikeouts, another massive win and CCIW player of the week. Just talk to me about the result of the game and what it means to you to win this honor.
A. In the game, I think what was really working for me was mixing my fastball and changeup to the batters. Winning this honor means a lot to me because I have been working so hard, not only to win player of the week but to try and lead my team to the conference tournament.
Q. What did you see out there on the mound, what made the difference between you getting those 10 strikeouts? Was it a certain pitch?
A. Yes definitely, I personally think it was my changeup because they were just swinging and missing at that pitch most of the time or just fouling it off.
Q. You guys got the series sweep against Carthage how did everyone react to that pair of wins and what was the locker room morale after?
A. It meant a lot to the team because we really needed those two wins going into the rest of the week. The day before the game I texted the group chat and told them “Let’s lock in fellas and get these two dubs tomorrow so we can move up in rankings and have better chances at being higher seeds in the conference.” And all the guys reacted to the comment and were all fired up the next day at the game before the game started, so I had a feeling we were going to take those two games.
Q. Lastly, what do you expect for your season and the team’s season going forward and when are you back on the mound?
A. I expect the Titans to be a high seed in the conference and win the conference tournament so we can go further. My next outing will be at home on Saturday, April 15 against Elmhurst, another conference game so we need this series too.
The Titans kick off the three-game series against Elmhurst University on Saturday, April 15 as they host the Bluejays for a doubleheader. The series finale will see the Titans traveling up to Elmhurst on Sunday, April 16 at Butterfield Park.