Box Score Wabash scored a pair of runs against NCAA Division I Chicago State University Tuesday night, but the Cougars banged out eight runs in the fifth inning to take a 10-2 victory.

The Little Giants used the game against the Western Athletic Conference opponent to prepare for an important four-game home series this weekend versus Ohio Wesleyan.

Austin Hawn got the baseball for his first start of the season. Normally a reliever, Hawn matched his 4-1/3 innings of work in his previous five appearances, giving up a run in the first and third innings. He eventually gave up five total runs — four earned — on six hits. He walked two and struck out three.

The Cougars (13-24) tacked on four runs against the Wabash bullpen with one swing of the bat later in the fifth on a grand slam by Matt Schmidt for an eventual 10-1 lead. Wabash answered with a run in the top of the sixth. Tanner Watson opened the inning with a walk, stole second, then scored on an RBI single by Clint Scarborough. Watson scored the first run for Wabash in the third when he once again walked and stole second. He moved to third on an infield single by Lucas Stippler, then scored on a wild pitch.

Wabash tallied three hits in the ballgame. KJ Zelenika joined Stippler and Scarborough with a single in the the seventh.

Hawn took the loss to move to 0-1 for the season. John Penn retired all three batters he faced on six pitches in the sixth inning. Jensen Kirch and Jeff Samuel each allowed a hit and a walk in scoreless seventh- and eighth-inning apperances, Samuel also picked up a strikeout and hit a batter.

Wabash (16-15) will play host to OWU this Saturday and Sunday for the final North Coast Athletic Conference West Division series of the season. Action at Goodrich Ballpark begins at 1 p.m. Saturday. A special Fan Appreciation/American Heart Association Day will be held at the Jimmy Haffner Home across from left field beginning at 11 a.m. with hot dogs, chips, and sodas available. The event is sponsored by Walgreens. The Wabash Classics Department and Eta Sigma Phi will sponsor its first suovetaurilia — a sacred Greco-Roman rite involving the sacrifice (and consumption) of a pig, sheep, and bull.The event will take place between games one and two Saturday on the right field viewing mound.