FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Mark Albanese, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302

Box Score

May 14, 2010-- North Central College was unable to contain a hot-hitting Illinois Wesleyan University on Friday, falling 16-5 in the opening round of the double-elimination College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin Baseball Tournament held at Zimmerman Stadium.

The visiting Titans outhit the host Cardinals by a 23-12 margin, scoring in all but one inning.

Illinois Wesleyan (20-19) scored single runs each of the first two innings before tacking on two in the third, jumping out to the early 4-0 advantage. North Central (31-8) got on the board in the third, plating three runs to cut the deficit to just one run. Nick Robinson led off the rally with an infield single, his 74th hit of the season, shattering Ken Ritter's long standing single-season hits record of 73 set back in 1986. Robinson would come around and score on a MIchael Corrigan single to right center field before a Joe Turek double to center brought in Corrigan and Matt Abraham.

The Titans scored a run in the fourth before taking advantage of a pair of home runs by Brett Moore and Casey McIntosh in the sixth to score three and increase their buffer to five at 8-3. IWU capitalized on three Cardinal errors over the next two innings, scoring four runs, three of which were unearned before Turek broke up the IWU scoring binge with a solo home run to center field to lead off the eighth inning.

Six hits produced four runs for the Titans in the ninth, providing the visitors' with a comfortable 12-run buffer. North Central attempted one final charge in the bottom of the ninth as Justin Moriarty reached base on a hit by pitch with two outs, later scoring on a Corrigan single to center field before a strikeout prematurely ended the late rally attempt.

Corrigan highlighted the day for the Cardinals, finishing four-for-five at the plate with a pair of RBIs while Turek, Andrew Wulbecker and Matt Burke each collected a pair of hits. McIntosh paced the Titans, finishing four-for-six with two RBIs while Ryan Hopp was three-for-six with a game-high four RBIs.

Mike Kloss (7-2) suffered the loss, tossing just 3 2/3 innings and yielding five earned runs while Jason Pankau (8-2) picks up the win, allowing four earned runs in eight innings of work.

North Central will face North Park University at 9:30 a.m. tomorrow with the loser eliminated from the CCIW Tournament.