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Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

MOLINE, Ill. (May 9, 2014) – The North Central College baseball team extended its season with an 8-4 win over Augustana College on Friday, advancing to tomorrow's College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament finale against Illinois Wesleyan University.
 
Augustana (29-12) plated the game's first run in the top of the second as Kyle Lenihan reached on an error and advanced all the way to third on an errant throw.  Lenihan would sprint home on a sacrifice fly later in the inning, giving the Vikings the early 1-0 lead.
 
The Viking lead would not last long as North Central responded with three unearned runs in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of four Augustana errors in the inning to take a 3-1 lead.
 
The Cardinals (26-14) added two more runs in the bottom of the next inning as Sam Klein led off the inning with a triple to left field.  Klein would come around to score two batters later as Zac Pacanowski lined a two-out single to left center.  After Alex Khoury was hit by a pitch, Nick DeWolf stepped to the plate and delivered a RBI base hit to center, getting in on the scoring attack and increasing the North Central lead 5-1.
 
Augustana slowly mounted a comeback, scoring a run in each of the third, fourth and sixth innings, cutting the Cardinal lead 5-4 after six innings played.
 
North Central put the game out of reach with three more insurance runs in the bottom of the eighth, taking advantage of two more Viking errors and a crucial 2-RBI single off the bat of Sam Carius with the bases loaded to give North Central some breathing room.  Joe Paparone increased the lead 8-4 with a sacrifice fly to center field, capping off the Cardinals second three-run inning.
 
Starter Bryan Polowy battled through some tough innings but ultimately came away with win, tossing all nine innings while giving up four runs, only two earned, striking out six and walking none.
 
Carius and DeWolf each finished with a hit and two RBI from the plate, while Pacanowski was 1 for 3 with three runs scored and a run batted in.
 
North Central will square off against Illinois Wesleyan University who is 2-0 so far in tournament play, tomorrow in the championship series, as the Cardinals will need to defeat the Titans twice in the double elimination format.  The first game is slated for 12 pm at Swanson Stadium.  Additional information and the link to live statistics is available HERE.