UPCOMING SCHEDULE (All times Central)
Friday, March 28
3:00 p.m. | Wheaton at Carthage
5:00 p.m. | North Park at Illinois Wesleyan
 
Saturday, March 29
11:30 a.m. | Carthage at Wheaton
12:00 p.m. | Carroll at Millikin (DH)
1:00 p.m. | Illinois Wesleyan at North Park
2:00 p.m. | Elmhurst at North Central
 
Sunday, March 30
1:00 p.m. | Augustana at North Central
 
Monday, March 31
7:00 p.m. | North Park at Millikin
 
Tuesday, April 1
6:00 p.m. | Carroll at Illinois Wesleyan
 
Wednesday, April 2
3:00 p.m. | Ripon at Carthage
3:00 p.m. | North Central at Elmhurst
5:00 p.m. | Carroll at Wheaton
6:00 p.m. | Augustana at North Park
6:00 p.m. | Illinois Wesleyan at Millikin
 
Friday, April 4
3:00 p.m. | Wheaton at North Central
 
NATIONAL NOTABLES
Carroll senior Thomas Ward (Waukesha, Wis.) ranks fourth in Division III with 2.06 runs batted in per game.
 
Illinois Wesleyan senior Cade Tomhave (Pittsfield, Ill.) ranks seventh in Division III with a .610 on-base percentage. Tomhave also ranks 18th nationally with a .488 batting average.
 
Carthage senior Bryce Schaum (Munster, Ind.) ranks ninth in Division III with 14.96 strikeouts per nine innings.
 
North Central junior Peyton Burgh (Arlington Heights, Ill.) ranks 12th in Division III with 0.25 triples per game.
 
Millikin senior Alec Mallinder (Plainfield, Ill.) ranks 18th in Division III with four pitching victories.
 
Millikin freshman Nolan Reiman (Morton, Ill.) ranks 25th in Division III with three saves.
 
AROUND THE CCIW
Augustana junior Zach DeMarlie (Milan, Ill.) has opened the campaign with a 2.55 earned-run average through his first six appearances of the season, earning wins over Baruch on March 7 and St. Olaf on March 21. Five of DeMarlie’s six appearances have been starts and his 4.74 hits allowed per nine innings is lowest in the CCIW. He gave up just two hits in 8.0 innings of his win over St. Olaf. The Vikings (9-7) have won five of their last eight since March 14 and will begin CCIW play Sunday at North Central at 1 p.m.
 
Carroll senior Thomas Ward (Waukesha, Wis.) has been one of the driving forces of the Pioneers’ offense through 15 games, putting up a .375 batting average (21-for-56) with eight doubles, five home runs and a league-high 33 runs batted in. Ward has reached base safely in 10 games this season, has seven multi-hit games and has driven in three runs or more in six games. The CU infielder now has 90 RBI in his 105-game career that includes 77 starts and a .541 slugging percentage. The Pios (9-8, 0-1 CCIW) will play a league doubleheader at Millikin on Saturday at noon.
 
Carthage freshman Christian Duarte (Orlando, Fla.) has started his collegiate career with a .400 batting average (16-for-40) with two doubles, a triple, two home runs and seven runs batted in. He owns a team-high .650 slugging percentage in 13 appearances, helping Carthage claim the CCIW lead with 15 home runs, 0.88 home runs per game. Duarte his home runs in back-to-back games for the Firebirds in their wins over Saint John’s on March 9 and Wesleyan on March 10. Carthage (11-6, 0-1 CCIW) will play its next two games with Wheaton, including a 3 p.m. start Friday in Kenosha.
 
Elmhurst junior Rock Smith (Elmhurst, Ill.) is the CCIW leader with six home runs in 2025. The infielder is hitting .441 (30-for-68) with a league-high .809 slugging percentage, making him one of only 36 players in Division III with a slugging percentage of .800 or better. Smith has also doubled three times and tripled twice to lead the CCIW with 55 total bases and was named CCIW Hitter of the Week on Monday after reaching safely five times in EU’s 7-5 win over Framingham State last Friday. The Bluejays (6-12) begin league action Saturday at North Central at 2 p.m.
 
Illinois Wesleyan senior Cade Tomhave (Pittsfield, Ill.) has reached base at a higher clip than any other player in the CCIW, boasting a slash line of .468/.587/.596 across 14 starts and 64 plate appearances. Tomhave has at least one hit in all but one appearance this season, has reached base safely in 16 consecutive games dating back to last season and has eight multi-hit games in 2025. Tomhave hit his second career home run last Sunday versus Wabash. IWU (7-8) begins the CCIW portion of its schedule Friday night at 5 p.m. versus North Park.
 
Millikin senior Tyler Gade (Rochester, Ill.) has stolen 14 bases on 16 attempts in his first 18 appearances of 2025, helping the Big Blue log a league-high 45 stolen bases and 2.50 steals per game. Gade is 23-for-65 (.354) with five doubles, a home run and 15 walks to push his on-base percentage to .488. Millikin is 7-3 in games when Gade has at least one stolen base, including a three-game stretch against Cornell, Hanover and Benedictine in which Gade had seven steals. The Big Blue (10-8) dive into league play Saturday with a noon twin bill against Carroll in Decatur.
 
North Central sophomore Caleb Coberey (Plainfield, Ill.) has been the Cardinals’ top hitter through his first 16 games of 2025, batting .397 (23-for-58) with seven extra-base hits for a .621 slugging percentage and eight walks for a .432 on-base percentage. Coberey had a four-hit game on Feb. 28 against Ripon and a four-RBI game at Marietta on March 11. He has seven multi-hit games overall in 2025, including an ongoing 6-for-11 stretch in his last three games since March 23. NCC (6-11, 1-0 CCIW) won its league opener at Carthage last Tuesday, 11-5, and will host Elmhurst Saturday at 2 p.m.
 
North Park senior Alex DiVito (Bloomfield Hills, Mich.) has raised his 129-game career batting average to 346 with a strong start to his fourth NPU season, going 20-for-54 (.370) through his first 16 starts of 2025. DiVito is slugging at a .593 clip this spring thanks to three doubles and three round-trippers, adding 12 stolen bases on 13 attempts. DiVito has reached base safely in all but contests this season and was on base a season-high four times at Webster on March 1. North Park (4-12) hits the road Friday to begin conference play at Illinois Wesleyan at 5 p.m.

Wheaton freshman Nate Burden (Wheaton, Ill.) has made five starts in his first collegiate season, owning the league’s lowest earned-run average at 2.15. He has allowed three earned runs or fewer in all five of his starts, logging 6.0 innings or more on three occasions. Burden had a career-high nine strikeouts in 7.0 innings versus Kenyon on March 8, a game that started his ongoing stretch of three consecutive pitching victories. Wheaton (7-11, 1-0 CCIW) won at Carroll in the league opener on Tuesday and will be back on the road in CCIW play Friday at Carthage at 3 p.m.