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

Box Score

APPLETON, Wis. (May 26, 2017) – Continuing to stay hot, the North Central College baseball team won the all-important first game of the 2017 NCAA Division III College World Series behind a complete game from Austin Polezoes and some timely hitting to take down 19th-ranked University of Massachusetts-Boston, 5-2 at Fox Cities Stadium.

The win marks the first victory at the Division III College World Series in school history, as the 1987 team went 0-2 at the championships 30 years prior, while the Cardinals have now won 15 of the last 16 games.

It was the Beacons (37-11) who struck first, as Kyle Boudria drew a two-out walk and Chris Fowler made the Cardinals pay with a double to deep left center, scoring Boudria to give UMass-Boston an early 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.

That lead did not last long however, as Chris Hill led off the top of the second with a single through the left side and came around to score later two batters later on a Sing Fong base hit to right, knotting the score 1-1.

UMass-Boston regained the lead in the bottom of the sixth, as Dan Mantoni singled to center field, snapping a streak of 15 straight retired by Polezoes.  Boudria followed with a triple to the deepest part of the park the following batter to plate yet another two-out run to take a 2-1 advantage.

Just like the second inning, North Central countered with a run the following half inning to tie the score once again, as John Carmody was hit by a pitch to lead off the frame.  Following a walk by Fong and a sacrifice bunt from Colin Weilbacher, Matt Sutherland grounded out softly to the pitcher, but some instinctive base-running from Carmody knotted the score as the freshman broke for home as soon as the throw was made to first.

The Cardinals took their first lead of the contest in the top of the eighth, pushing across three, two-out runs as Nick Sotiros blooped a pop-up into no-man's land in right center for a double to get the rally started.

After Sotiros advanced to third on a balk, Hill drew a walk to put runners on first and third for North Central.  Carmody stepped to the plate and roped a double to right, scoring Sotiros, while Hill came around to score on a UMass-Boston error to give the Cardinals a 4-2 lead.

Mike Noesen entered as a pinch runner for Carmody and that move payed off immensely as Fong lined a single to left allowing Noesen to score just ahead of the tag, increasing the lead even further 5-2 heading to the ninth.

The Beacons rallied to put runners on second and third with one out in the bottom of the eighth, but Polezoes struck out Mantoni and induced a lineout off the bat of Boudria to escape the jam unscathed.

Polezoes finished what he started with a 1-2-3 bottom of the ninth, improving to 5-3 on the season with the victory.  Polezoes allowed just three hits over the final nine innings, allowing just the two runs, both earned, while striking out a pair.

Fong finished 2-for-3 from the plate with a walk and two RBI, while Carmody was 1-for-2 with a walk, hit by pitch, run scored and RBI.  Sotiros added a 2-for-4 performance from the plate with a run scored, while Michael Mateja increased his reached-base streak to 41 games with a walk in the sixth.  Hill finished 1-for-3 with a walk and two runs scored as well.

North Central advances in the winner's bracket and will take on the winner of California Lutheran University and Wheaton College (Massachusetts) tomorrow at 7:45 p.m.  The tournament website is available HERE.