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Luther Box Score

Lawrence Box Score

JACKSONVILLE, Ill. (Mar. 7, 2015) – The North Central College baseball team opened the 2015 campaign splitting a pair of non-conference matchups at Lenz Field, dropping the opener 3-1 to Luther College, before responding with a 30-0 rout of Lawrence University in the nightcap.
 
In the opener against Luther (1-0), the Cardinals jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead as Joe Paparone led off the top of the second inning with a walk.  After Bobby Smith sacrificed Paparone to second, Sam Carius stepped to the plate and singled home Paparone to score the game's first run.
 
The Cardinal offense went cold over the next six innings as Luther's Alec Knop shut down the North Central attack, allowing just four hits over his final six innings while striking out 11 over his eight innings pitched.
 
The Norse pushed over an unearned run in the bottom of the fourth and took the lead in the bottom of the sixth, as Jon Opdahl doubled home Casey Waterman to take a 2-1 lead and run Cardinal starter Ben Krusen from the game. 
 
Luther added an insurance run in the bottom of the eighth, while Andrew Withers shut the door in the ninth to secure the 3-1 win.
 
Krusen allowed two runs, one earned, on just three hits over 5 and 2/3 innings pitched, striking out seven but walked six batters.
 
Carius, Jake Rone and Nick Brandt each went 2-for-4 from the plate in game one, while Carius drove in the Cardinals lone run.
 
In the nightcap against Lawrence (0-1), North Central scored in 8 of 9 innings while racking up 23 hits, including 11 runs over the first three innings and a nine spot in the top of the sixth.
 
In the top of the first, Carius and Rone each walked to lead off the inning and Paparone followed two batters later with a 3-run homerun to give the Cardinals an early 3-0 lead.
 
That momentum carried over to the top of the second as Paparone drew a bases loaded walk and Smith drove in three runs with a bases clearing double later in the inning, increasing the North Central lead 7-0.
 
In the top of the sixth, the Cardinals put the game out of hand plating nine runs on six hits, while taking advantage of a Viking error as Chris Hill highlighted the inning with a grand slam.
 
14 Cardinal batters recorded a hit in game two, led by Hill's 4-for-4 effort from the plate with five runs batted in and four runs scored.   Paparone finished 3-for-3 from the dish, driving in five runs while scoring three times and walking once.

Bryan Polowy had the Lawrence batters off balance all afternoon, allowing just one hit over his six innings pitched, striking out 10 and walking none to earn the victory.
 
The Cardinal bullpen took care of business the rest of the way, allowing just one hit over the final three innings to go along with three strikeouts.
 
With the win over Lawrence, head coach Ed Mathey earned his 500^th career victory over his 22-year career, combining his previous record at North Central with his last 12 season at Northern Illinois University.
 
North Central is back in action tomorrow in Jacksonville, Ill., taking on Carleton College at 10 a.m., followed by Lawrence again at 1 p.m.