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Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score

MOLINE, Ill. (May 10, 2014) – The North Central College baseball team forced a seventh and final game in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament with 10-0 win over Illinois Wesleyan earlier in the day, overcoming three straight elimination games, but the Cardinals ran out of steam in the championship game, falling to the Titans, 8-3 Saturday afternoon.
 
North Central entered the day needing to defeat Illinois Wesleyan twice in the double elimination format as the Titans entered the afternoon with a record of 2-0 in tournament play. With the game one win, North Central improved to 4-0 this season against the Titans, but were finally undone in the nightcap as Illinois Wesleyan clinched the conference's automatic qualifier into the NCAA Regional.
 
The Cardinals scored early and often in game one, scoring in every inning but the third, wracking up 14 hits and taking advantage of five Illinois Wesleyan errors.
 
In the bottom of the first, Sam Carius reached on an error to lead off the inning and would come around to score on another error later in the inning to give North Central an early 1-0 lead.
 
With one out in the bottom of the second, Alex Khoury doubled down the left field line and would come around to score as Nick DeWolf followed with a single to center.  After Carius lined a single to right, Jake Rone plated DeWolf with a RBI base hit up the middle, increasing the Cardinal lead 3-0.
 
The offensive onslaught continued for the Cardinals in the bottom of the fourth as Rone plated another run on a run scoring double down the left field line.
 
North Central added three runs in each of the final two innings of the seven inning shortened game, and would be more than enough run support for starter Andrew Houser.  Houser tossed all seven innings, scattering just four hits while striking out three.
 
The bottom four of the Cardinal lineup combined to go 9 for 16 from the plate in the opener, Khoury and DeWolf were each 3 for 4 while DeWolf drove in three runs and scored twice.
 
North Central got on the board first with a run in the top of the second as Vito DeRango doubled to left center and would come around to score on a Zac Pacanowski base hit two batters later.
 
The Titans answered in the bottom half of the inning as Nick Hahn and Adam Glogovsky led off with back-to-back doubles and Jarrod Juskiewicz lofted a sacrifice fly to right, giving Illinois Wesleyan a 2-1 lead.
 
After the Cardinals claimed the lead right back with a pair of runs in the top of fourth, the Titan offense exploded for six runs on seven hits and one Cardinal error in the bottom half of the inning to quickly turn a one-run deficit into an 8-3 lead.
 
The Cardinal offense went silent after the fourth, mustering just four hits over the final five innings as Illinois Wesleyan's Louis Acklin kept North Central off balance over his scoreless 5 1/3 innings pitched, allowing just four hits in relief of starter Robert Romano.
 
DeRango finished game two a perfect 4 for 4 from the dish, including two runs scored, while John Ciolkosz was 1 for 3 with a walk and a run batted in.
 
North Central looks to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Regional after finishing the season with an overall record of 27-15, the team's best finish since the 2010 team that reached the regional tournament.  The full postseason field will be announced Sunday, May 11 at NCAA.com.