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

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

Apr. 10, 2010 - A sizzling offensive effort wound up lasting all day for the North Central College baseball team on Saturday, as the Cardinals posted their highest run totals of the year in two mercy rule-shortened victories over College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin rival Elmhurst College.

North Central opened the day with a 16-3 rout of the Bluejays, then followed with a 22-12 victory in the second contest. The wins kept the Cardinals atop the CCIW standings at 6-1, and improved their overall record to 17-3.

All day long, the North Central batters took advantages of opportunities provided by the Bluejays' pitching staff, starting with a six-run first inning in the opener. Taking advantage of four walks and a hit batter, the Cardinals needed just three hits to take a commanding lead. After loading the bases with no outs, the hosts got their first runs on a two-run double by Michael Corrigan, and Joe Turek followed by sending a three-run home run over the left-center field fence. North Central loaded the bases once again before Brennan Hagensee scored on a fielder's choice.

Corrigan scored on an error in the second inning, and the Cardinals wiped out any thoughts of an Elmhurst comeback in the third by plating seven more runs. Andrew Wulbecker scored on an error, Dan Scott ripped a two-run single, Corrigan hit a three-run homer to left field, and Matt Burke brought home a run with a groundout.

The Bluejays (3-15, 0-6) made use of three extra-base hits to score all three of their runs in the fourth, though a second home run by Turek, a two-run job, followed in the fifth.

Corrigan and Turek each went 3 for 4 with three runs scored and four runs batted in during the first game, while Matt Abraham was 2 for 2 with three runs. Mike Kloss pitched six innings to earn the victory (4-1), allowing three earned runs on seven hits.

Elmhurst jumped in front with a four-run first inning in the second game, but the Cardinals hammered their visitors for 10 runs on just six hits in the home half of the first, benefitting from four walks and two hit batters. A two-run double by Corrigan opened North Central's scoring, Burke  and Corrigan drew walkswith the bases loaded, Wulbecker clubbed a three-run double, and Abraham, Turek and Peter Romanello delivered RBI singles.

The Bluejays got three runs back in the second inning to cut their deficit in half, though Burke scored on a wild pitch in the bottom of the inning to leave the score at 11-7. Elmhurst took their second lead of the contest by scoring five runs in the fourth and fifth innings to pull ahead, 12-11, but a second sustained Cardinal rally produced nine runs in the bottom of the fifth.

The first run in the fifth came off a double by Steve Hlavac, which was followed by an RBI single by Burke, a two-run base hit by Nick Robinson, another two-run double by Corrigan, and an error which sent Abraham across the plate before Hlavac also closed the rally with an RBI double.

Needing two runs to close out the contest in the seventh via the CCIW's 10-run rule, North Central loaded the bases with no outs before Turek drew a bases-loaded walk and Abraham scored on a wild pitch.

Corrigan went 4 for 5 in the nightcap, again finishing with five RBI, while Turek was 3 for 5 and Abraham drew three walks and scored four runs. Every member of the Cardinals' lineup scored at least one run and recorded at least one hit. Relief pitcher Keeler Otero came on in the fifth and was credited with the win (1-0).

North Central travels to Elmhurst for the final leg of a three-game set on Sunday, with action set to get under way at noon.