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Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Box Score

Apr. 17, 2009 - The North Central College baseball team appeared to be on its way to a non-conference victory Friday afternoon at Zimmerman Stadium, but a four-run surge in the ninth inning proved to be enough to propel the University of Chicago past the Cardinals.

Trailing, 9-7, heading into the bottom of the eighth inning, North Central (5-16) strung together three runs to put itself in position to pull out the win. A two-run home run by Joe Turek, his fourth of the season, tied the contest at 9-9 with one out, and the go-ahead run came when Joe Heller laid down a bunt on a suicide squeeze play to score pinch runner Eric Vogrin. Vogrin came on to run for Andrew Wulbecker, who had reached on a double.

With one out in the ninth, the Maroons (9-9) got back-to-back singles and a walk to load the bases, and a North Central throwing error on a play in the infield resulted in two Chicago runs. A two-run double by Maroon designated hitter Trace Capps completed the scoring.

The visitors took the initial lead of the game with a two-run first inning, but the Cardinals countered with four runs in their first turn at bat. The first three North Central runs came on a triple by Heller, with the fourth coming on an RBI single by Matt Burke.

Chicago tied the score with a pair of runs in the third, but the score was knotted once again, 6-6, after a two-run double by Heller in the fifth. The Maroons, however, scored five runs in the next two frames, during which time North Central was only able to manage an RBI base hit by Steve Hlavac.

Hlavac went 3 for 6 at the plate with a double, while Heller established a new career high with five runs batted in. Micah Yarbrough drew the start on the pitcher's mound, allowing four runs on four hits in five innings. David Williams came on in the ninth inning and took the loss (0-2), yielding three runs.

The Cardinals host Millikin University in a double header on Saturday, with play scheduled to begin at 12:30 p.m.