Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
Box Score
CAROL STREAM, Ill. (Feb. 25, 2018) – A five-run first and six-run fourth inning propelled the North Central College baseball team to a weekend sweep of MacMurray Colllege, as three Cardinal homeruns provided a majority of the scoring in a 12-8 win at Wheaton College's Lee Pfund Stadium.
The Cardinal offense jumped on MacMurray starter Trevor Knipe right off the bat, sending 10 batters to the dish in the inning.
Jeremy Quade led off with a walk, followed by a base hit off the bat of
Eric Outlaw before
Mike Wisz jumped into his first homerun as a Cardinal, a three-run blast over the 395 sign in straight away center field to give North Central an early 3-0 lead.
Following the Wisz homer,
John Carmody drew a walk, followed by a ground-rule double to right center for
Ryan Scott, still with nobody out in the inning. After a pair of outs,
Rob Marinec came through with a big two-out double to right center, driving in both Carmody and Scott to increase the lead 5-0.
The Highlanders (1-4) got on the board with two unearned runs in the top of the third, but North Central grabbed one right back in the bottom half on a RBI-single off the bat of Quade.
After MacMurray closed the gap 6-3 with a run in the fourth, the Cardinal offense exploded once again, this time putting a six spot on the board, sending 12 batters to the plate this time as Outlaw singled to start the rally.
Wisz promptly followed with his second homerun of the afternoon, a moon shot to nearly the same spot in dead center field. Following a pitching change and a strikeout, Scott reached on an error proving fatal later in the inning as a strikeout the next batter would have ended the inning but Marinec made the Highlanders pay to batters later, launching his second homerun in as many games over the center field fence to give the Cardinals an 11-3 advantage.
The offense was not finished scoring in the bottom of the sixth either, as
Matt Sutherland drew a two-out walk and came around to score later in the inning on a bases loaded hit by pitch from Wisz to cap the Cardinal scoring.
MacMurray responded with a run in the seventh and a four-run comeback attempt in the top of the ninth, but the Cardinal lead proved insurmountable in the end.
Wisz finished 3-for-4 with two homeruns, six runs batted in, two runs scored and a hit by pitch to lead the offense, while Marinec finished with two hits and five of the other six RBI.
Charles Klemm earned the victory for the Cardinals, tossing three strong innings out of the bullpen, allowing just one run while striking out five.
Knipe was credited with the loss for MacMurray, allowing eight runs, seven earned on eight hits, walking five and striking out three over three innings pitched.
North Central (2-0) is null until its annual Spring Break trip, starting the trip against Susquehanna University on March 15 in Port Charlotte, Fla. with a 4 p.m. (ET) start.
