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

CRESTWOOD, Ill. (Apr. 26, 2016) – Fighting back from a 7-0 first inning deficit, the North Central College baseball team defeated Wabash College, 9-8 on Tuesday night at Standard Bank Stadium.
 
Wabash (16-17) jumped on the Cardinals (24-5) for seven runs in the first inning, taking advantage of two Cardinal errors to plate five unearned runs.
 
Despite facing the early deficit, the Cardinals rebounded to plate four runs of their own in the bottom of the first as Bobby Smith lined a two-RBI triple to left center to start the scoring.  Later in the inning, Smith came home on a Chris Hill groundout, while Nick Sotiros doubled later in the inning, scoring Michael Mateja who reached on an error the previous at-bat.
 
North Central plated two more runs in the bottom of the fifth to narrow the deficit 7-6, as David Rico drove in a pair with a double to right field.
 
After knotting the score on a double from Hill in the bottom of the sixth, North Central took their first lead of the contest in the bottom of the eighth as Mateja reached on an infield single with the bases loaded, scoring Sing Fong and giving the Cardinals a 8-7 lead.
 
That lead did not last long however, as Wabash responded right back with a run in the top of the ninth on a Andrew Roginski single to tie the score 8-8.
 
The Cardinals were not to be denied in the end though, as a two-out throwing error on the Little Giant shortstop allowed the winning run to score in the form of Dan Sotiros who singled with one out in the inning.
 
Fong finished 3-for-5 with three runs scored and a RBI for the Cardinal offense, while Jeremy Quade finished 3-for-6 with a run scored.  Hill added a 2-for-4 performance from the dish to go along with a walk, run scored and two RBI.
 
Nick Anderson earned the victory on the mound for North Central, allowing one run over his two innings out of the bullpen, striking out one.
 
North Central continues non-conference play tomorrow, playing host to Dominican University at 3 p.m. at Zimmerman Stadium.  Links to live in-game statistics are available HERE.