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

Box Score

May 8, 2015 – After struggling from the plate in yesterday's College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament opener, the North Central College baseball team found its groove Friday morning, racking up 12 hits to defeat Wheaton College, 13-1 and stay alive in tournament play.

The Cardinals (26-15) jumped on Thunder starter Michael Kaufman in the top of the first as the first five batters reached base to run Kaufman from the game before recording an out.  Sam Carius and Vito DeRango each singled to lead off the inning, while Sam Klein followed suit with a RBI single to center, scoring Carius and giving North Central an early 1-0 lead.

After Joe Paparone walked to load the bases, Bobby Smith drove in DeRango with a four-pitch walk the following batter, forcing Wheaton to dig into its bullpen with no outs in the first.

Following a Thunder pitching change, Chris Hill increased the Cardinal lead 3-0 with a RBI fielder's choice, while Jake Rone capped the scoring with a bunt single to third, scoring Paparone.

A four-run first inning cushion was all Cardinal starter Bryan Polowy needed, allowing just one run over seven innings pitched, striking out seven and walking none.  Polowy improves to a CCIW leading 8-1 this season, allowing just nine earned runs over 74 1/3 innings pitched this season, striking out 61 opposed to only 17 walks.

North Central added a run in the top of the fifth as Sam Carius drew a leadoff walk, proceeded to steal second, moved to third on a wild pitch and came around to score on another wild pitch all with DeRango at the plate.

The Cardinals put the game out of reach with a five spot in the top of the sixth, as three walks loaded the bases with one out.  DeRango lined a groundball to the Thunder shortstop that was bobbled, allowing DeRango to reach and scoring Richard Concialdi in the process. 

Two batters later, with two outs and the bases loaded, Paparone lined a two-RBI single to right center, scoring Carius and Zach Jarosz, while the Wheaton center fielder threw the relay toss into the third base dugout, allowing DeRango to score and Paparone to advance to third on the play.  Smith really made the Thunder error hurt with a RBI single to left, scoring Paparone and giving North Central a commanding 10-0 lead.

After Wheaton got on the board with a run in the bottom of the seventh, North Central responded with three insurance runs in the top of the ninth to stay alive in the double elimination format tournament.

Paparone led all batters going 2-for-2 from the plate with three walks, two RBI and two runs scored.  Concialdi finished 2-for-4 with a walk, RBI and two runs scored, while DeRango and Smith each added a pair of hits and Carius scored three times while drawing a pair of walks.

North Central will take on Illinois Wesleyan University tomorrow, with first pitch slated for 11 a.m. as the winner will advance to take on unbeaten Carthage later tomorrow afternoon.  Additional information and the link to live in-game statistics is available at cciw.org.