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

Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score

CHICAGO (Apr. 2, 2010) - The North Central College baseball team broke even in its first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin double header on Friday, splitting a pair of games at North Park University.

The Cardinals claimed a 13-5 victory in the opener, then suffered a 20-13 setback in the second contest.

North Central (12-3, 1-1 CCIW) jumped on top of the Vikings in the first inning of the initial game, as Nick Robinson and Dan Scott each drew walks before Matt Abraham sent his first home run as a Cardinal over the right center-field fence. Joe Turek added an RBI single before the inning was up, giving the visitors an early 4-0 advantage.

The hosts got one run back in the bottom half of the inning, but it was negated in the fourth as Robinson hit a solo home run to left field. North Park (12-6, 1-1) scored a run in the fourth and another in the fifth to close the gap to 5-3, but a three-run homer by Brennan Hagensee extended the Cardinals' lead to 8-3 in the seventh inning.

Robinson tripled to open the eighth inning and scored on a single by Abraham, and Turek added another run-scoring single and Matt Burke drew a bases-loaded walk before the third out was recorded. North Central added two final runs in the ninth as Scott contributed a sacrifice fly and Robinson scored on a passed ball.

Turek went 3 for 4 in the opening game, while Abraham was 3 for 6 with three runs and four RBI and Robinson finished 2 for 4 with four runs. Starting pitcher Mike Kloss improved to 3-1, pitching the first 7 2/3 innings. He permitted five runs on 11 hits, striking out eight and walking none.

Michael Corrigan came through with an RBI single in the first inning of the second game to give North Central another early lead, but the Vikings countered with four runs in the home half of the inning to pull ahead. The Cardinals' Peter Romanello hammered a two-run homer in the third inning, and a five-run third inning pushed the guests ahead, 8-6.

Turek plated the first run in the third with a single, and Andrew Wulbecker followed with a sacrifice fly before a two-run single by Romanello and an RBI base hit by Scott.

North Park, however, hit two home runs to score three times in the bottom of the third, which wound up giving the Vikings the lead for good. The hosts added two runs in the fifth, which North Central countered with Corrigan's two-run sixth-inning home run, but NPU tallied nine runs in the sixth and seventh frames to put a dent in the Cardinals' comeback hopes.

North Central's remaining three runs came on a sacrifice fly by Robinson in the eighth and a two-run homer by pinch hitter Blake Schmucker in the ninth.

Corrigan was a perfect 3 for 3 in the nightcap, while Romanello went 3 for 4 with four RBI. Tyler Herman pitched the first three innings and took the loss (2-1), allowing nine runs on eight hits.

The Cardinals host North Park in the final game of the series on Saturday. The game time has been pushed back from its original 12 p.m. start ot 3 p.m. due to forecasted weather conditions.