Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
Box Score
Apr. 19, 2017 – Scoring early and often, the North Central College baseball team plated 16 runs on 16 hits in the rubber match against Carroll University, rolling to a 16-5 win to claim their third straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) series.
The first four batters in the Cardinal lineup came to bat five times in North Central's six at-bats, while every player in the lineup came to bat in consecutive innings, twice.
North Central (14-9, 9-2 CCIW) jumped all over Carroll starter Carter Howard for five runs in the bottom of the first as
Chris Hill drove in the first run of the game on a RBI single to right, scoring
Michael Mateja who reached on an error earlier in the inning. After
Sing Fong walked to load the bases,
John Carmody took care of that problem, depositing his fourth homerun of the season over the left field fence, as the grand slam increased the Cardinal lead 5-0.
After Carroll put a run on the board in the top of the second, North Central came right back with a three spot in the bottom half of the inning.
Matt Sutherland led off with a single and stole second before
Jeremy Quade moved him to third with another single to left, while Mateja plated Sutherland with a sacrifice fly the following at-bat.
Nick Sotiros promptly lined a double to left center on the first pitch he saw, playing Quade while running Howard and forcing the Pioneers to use their bullpen early. Unfortunately for the Pioneers there was no relief in sight as Hill followed with a RBI single, scoring Sotiros while giving the Cardinals a 8-1 lead.
North Central kept the offense coming, scoring a run in each of the next two innings, including a RBI base hit from Quade in the third and a sacrifice fly off the bat of Fong in the bottom of the fourth.
Carroll attempted a comeback with a three-run fourth, but the Cardinals quickly ended that attempt with four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Sutherland walked to lead off the inning and trotted home on a RBI triple to right center off the bat of Mateja, while Sotiros followed with a single to center, plating Mateja.
Later in the inning with the bases full of Cardinals,
Ryan Scott plated a pair with a double to right, increasing the Cardinal lead back to 14-4.
The Cardinals added two runs in the bottom of the sixth just for good measure, as five Cardinals finished with multiple hits, led by Hill's 4-for-4 performance with a walk, two runs scored and two driven in. Sotiros finished 3-for-4 with two doubles, two RBI and four runs scored, while Quade also added four hits to go along with two runs scored and a run driven in.
Mateja finished 2-for-4 with a pair of extra base hits, while scoring three times and driving in three, and Carmody finished 2-for-3 with all four of his RBI coming on his first-inning grand slam.
Russell Hoh tossed all seven innings for the complete game victory, allowing four earned while striking out three and improves to 4-0 on the year.
North Central opens the season series against Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday, Apr. 22 with game one of the doubleheader slated for 12 p.m. at Zimmerman Stadium. Links to live in-game coverage are available
HERE.
