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

Box Score

Apr. 17, 2010 - The North Central College baseball team kept itself atop the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin standings on Saturday, scoring six runs in the ninth inning to topple Carthage College, 14-13, before the second game of the scheduled double header was suspended due to darkness.

The Cardinals opened game one with a three-run first inning, getting a sacrifice fly from Michael Corrigan and a two-run homer from Joe Turek, though Carthage took advantage of three North Central errors to plate five runs in the top of the second.

A leadoff double by Dan Scott led to another Cardinal score in the third, as he trotted home on Corrigan's second sacrifice fly. In the fourth, North Central regained the lead despite not recording a single hit. Taking advantage of two errors, two walks and a hit batter, the hosts sent five baserunners across the plate and took a 7-5 advantage.

The lead once again was short-lived, as the Red Men responded with a four-run outburst in the fifth, including a two-run homer by infielder Josh Albers. A solo shot by first baseman Joey Aiello extended Carthage's lead to 10-7 in the sixth, though Matt Abraham negated the score with his own solo homer in the home half of the inning.

The visitors made use of the long ball to take a commanding 13-8 lead in the eighth, as pinch hitter Zach Kozlowski belted a three-run dinger to left field.

North Central opened its comeback bid in the ninth with a single by Matt Burke and a walk by Peter Romanello, and #Nick Robinson drove in the first run with a base hit. Scott added a single before Romanello scored on an error, and Corrigan drew a bases-loaded walk to narrow the gap to 13-11.

A sacrifice fly by Turek left the Cardinals trailing by a single run, and the defeat of the defending CCIW champions was made complete when Brennan Hagensee hammered a two-run triple to right field.

Turek finished 3 for 5 in the opener while Hagensee went 2 for 6 and Corrigan drove in four runs. Mike Charles was the winning pitcher, allowing two hits and no runs in two innings.

Saturday's second game was suspended in the middle of the seventh inning with Carthage leading, 10-7. The game will resume at Carthage on Sunday before the regularly-scheduled contest. Action is set to get under way at 1 p.m.