FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
Game 1 Box Score
Game 2 Box Score
Mar. 29, 2013 – The North Central College baseball team was able to claim one of two games in a Friday afternoon doubleheader against Carthage College, opening up College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play, winning game one 4-2 before dropping the nightcap 11-3.
The Cardinals (8-7, 1-1 CCIW) were the away team both games, as the doubleheader was re-scheduled from Kenosha, Wis. due to field conditions.
The Red Men (6-8, 1-1) struck first in the bottom of the second as Drew Bailey plated the games first run on an RBI single up the middle.
In the top of the fifth, the Cardinals loaded the bases on back-to-back singles by
Matt Brancato and
Frank Sutphin as well as a
Sam Klein walk, before
Alex Khoury would knot the score at 1-1 with a sacrifice fly to center field.
Carthage regained the lead in the bottom of the seventh, pushing across a run on a Nick Schmidlkofer sacrifice fly to take a 2-1 advantage.
The Red Men lead didn't last long as the Cardinals struck for three runs the top of the following inning as
Zac Pacanowski tied the game with a sac fly to right.
Later in the inning with two outs and a man aboard,
John Ciolkosz cranked his second homerun in as many games over the scoreboard in right field, giving the hosts a decisive 4-2 lead.
Jon Rashid was credited with the victory, tossing 7 1/3 innings while giving up just one earned run.
Brendan Ryan came in to close the door in the ninth, earning his second save of the season.
In game two, North Central jumped out to an early 3-0 second inning lead as the Cardinals put together five hits including RBI singles by Khoury and
Tom Ross.
The Carthage pitching staff would hold the Cardinals to just one hit the remainder of the game as the Red Men piled on 11 unanswered runs along the way including five runs in the seventh and four runs in the eighth.
Kris Singh received a no decision on the mound for North Central, scattering seven hits over five innings while giving up two earned runs.
The two teams square off Saturday for the rubber match of the three game series. First pitch at Zimmerman Stadium is scheduled for 12 p.m.