FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Clark Teuscher, Sports Information Director, 630-637-5302
Box Score
Apr. 10, 2011 - In a series marked by late runs and close finishes, the North Central College baseball team nearly pulled off a second straight win against the 16th-ranked Carthage College Red Men on Sunday. The Cardinals battled back to force extra innings before losing, 8-7, at Zimmerman Stadium.
North Central (11-7, 5-3 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) was coming off a 10-inning win in the second game of Saturday's double header and threatened to do the ssame on Sunday, but ran out of offense after a late home run by Carthage shortstop Kyle Pusateri.
Some sloppy fielding put the Cardinals in a hole early, as Carthage took advantage of two first-inning errors and plated three unearned runs. A second-inning fielding miscue by the Red Men gave North Central a boost and led to the hosts' first two runs, as Nick Daniels grounded out to bring home the first run and Brennan Hagensee singled to narrow the gap to 3-2.
North Central took a 4-3 lead in the fifth, as Matt Abraham recorded a two-run single, though the Red Men (14-4, 6-1 CCIW) tied the score in the sixth. The score remained deadlocked until the eighth inning, when a Cardinal error, coupled with a single and a sacrifice fly by catcher Matt Soderlund, gave Carthage a 5-4 advantage.
The Red Men put themselves in a commanding positiion in the ninth, scoring two runs on four hits to carry a 7-4 lead into the bottom of the inning. Daniels and Hagensee, however, led off the home half of the ninth with singles to start the home team's comeback effort. Daniels later scored on an error and Michael Corrigan delivered a two-run single, although the Cardinals left the bases loaded as the game went into the 10th inning.
Pusateri, however, led off the 10th inning with a soloe home run to left field. Pitcher TJ Hecimovich came on in relief to get the Cardinals out of the inning without any more damage, but North Central went down in order to end the game.
Hagensee went 3 for 5 at the plate, while Daniels and Corrigan each went 2 for 5. Nate Arenson started the game on the pitcher's mound and went 7 2/3 innings, allowing one earned run on eight hits while striking out four and walking one. Relief pitcher Loukas Kalliantasis was tagged with the loss (0-1).
The Cardinals travel to Sunnyside Park in Decatur, Ill., on Wednesday to play the final leg of their three-game series with Millikin University. Play is scheduled to begin at 3 p.m.
