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

Box Score

APPLETON, Wis. (May 28, 2017) – Dropping their first game in the 2017 NCAA Division III Tournament, the North Central College baseball team fell into an early six-run hole and was never able to come back, as a potent California Lutheran University offense piled on the hits in a 14-5 loss at Fox Cities Stadium on Saturday evening.
 
North Central (30-17) entered the evening allowing just eight runs over their first five games of the NCAA Tournament as the pitching staff had been stellar to this point, but the Cardinal staff hit a bump in the road, using six pitchers in the loss.
 
Cal Lutheran (37-10), ranked 15^th in the last D3baseball.com Top 25 Poll, scored early and often, with a lineup featuring eight of the nine batters with averages above .300.  The Kingsmen got the scoring started with a run in the top of the second off Cardinal starter Evan Blunk, as Cheynne Giles lined a triple to right center, scoring Weston Clark who reached on a walk earlier in the inning.
 
The scoring continued in the top of the third, as Cal Lutheran strung together five hits in the inning to plate four runs, while carrying that momentum into the fourth as a Max Weinsten two-run homerun gave the Kingsmen a 7-1 lead.
 
North Central was able to cut that lead in half in the bottom of the fourth, as Chris Hill and John Carmody each singled to lead off the inning, the Cardinals first two hits of the contest.  After Sing Fong advanced the pair with a groundout, Colin Weilbacher plated Hill with an infield single to shortstop.
 
Matt Sutherland followed with a RBI single down the right field line to score Carmody, while Michael Mateja scored Weilbacher two batters later, lining a two-out single back up the middle to cut the Cal Lutheran lead 7-4.
 
The Kingsmen gained those runs back and more in the top of the seventh, posting a four-spot on three hits in the inning, while putting the game out of reach with three more runs in the top of the ninth.
 
Eight of the nine batters in the Cal Lutheran lineup recorded a hit, led by Brad Fullerton's 3-for-5 performance with three RBI.  Clark did not record a hit but walked three times and came around to score all three times.
 
Weilbacher finished 2-for-2 with a hit by pitch, RBI and two runs scored, while Nick Sotiros also added a pair of hits.  Mateja finished 1-for-5, increasing his reached-base streak to 42 consecutive games dating back to Mar. 20.
 
Blunk suffers his first defeat since Apr. 12, allowing more than two earned runs for the first time in his last seven starts, giving up five earned on six hits over his three innings.
 
North Central will face the University of Massachusetts-Boston in a re-match of the opener tomorrow in an elimination game scheduled for 1:15 p.m.  The link to the tournament website is available HERE.