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

Box Score

Mar. 31, 2018 – Holding a 10-run lead midway through the final game of the season series with Millikin University, the North Central College baseball team held on to a 13-10 win on a wild and windy day at Zimmerman Stadium to complete the season sweep and remain unbeaten in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play.

The scoring started for North Central (9-6, 5-0 CCIW) in the bottom of the second, as Mike Wisz line a one-out single to left, followed by a Colin Weilbacher walk to start the Cardinal rally.  After the pair moved up a base on a wild pitch, Rob Marinec made the Big Blue pay with a two-RBI single through the left side, giving North Central a 2-0 lead.

Marinec proceeded to steal third base before Joe Rizzo sent him home on a RBI-double that just stayed fair down the right field line.  With two outs in the inning, Quade drew a walk to extend the frame for Eric Outlaw who doubled down the left field line, scoring Rizzo while increasing the lead 4-0.

That lead did not last long however, as Millikin quickly countered with three runs in the top of the third, stringing together five hits to cut the lead to just one.

North Central busted the game open in the bottom of the fourth, sending 12 batters to the plate en route to a seven-run inning.  Rizzo led off the frame with a walk, before Matt Sutherland doubled to right center. 

Outlaw singled two batters later, Outlaw singled to left, scoring Rizzo, before Michael Mateja reached on a fielder's choice, scoring Sutherland in the process.  With two outs and Mateja on first, back-to-back doubles off the bats of John Carmody and Wisz plated two more runs, before an error on the Big Blue third baseman extended the inning.

The Cardinals took advantage of the extra out as Marinec drew a walk to load the bases.  Rizzo then drew his second walk of the inning, sending Wisz home in the process, while Sutherland drove home Marinec and Weilbacher the following batter with a two-RBI single to right, increasing the lead 11-3.

North Central extended the lead to 13-3 in the bottom of the fifth on RBI doubles from Carmody and Weilbacher, as the Cardinals racked up eight doubles on the afternoon.

Just three outs away from securing the 10-run win in the seventh inning, the wheels fell off for North Central as Millikin sent 10 batters to the plate in the top of the seventh and eight more in the top of the eighth, scoring four and three runs, respectively, in the two innings.

Millikin (10-8, 0-4 CCIW) scored seven runs over the seventh and eighth innings on just four hits, but drew four walks, while taking advantage of two North Central errors and three hit batters to quickly erase the double digit lead.  At one point in the bottom of the eighth, the Big Blue had the game-leading run at the plate, but Anthony Serafini was able to induce a 5-4-3 double play to escape the inning with the lead.

Serafini then issued a leadoff walk in the top of the ninth, but managed to pitch himself out of danger to earn his first save of the season.

Patrick Schaefer earned the victory on the mound, allowing three earned over his five innings pitched, striking out a pair.

Rizzo finished 2-for-3 with two walks, two RBI and two runs scored to pace the Cardinal offense, while Sutherland finished 2-for-4 with a walk, two RBI and a run scored. Wisz also finished 2-for-4 with a walk, two runs scored and one driven in, while Mateja scored twice, drove in a run and extended his reached-base streak to 58 games with a single to left in the fifth.

North Central continues a stretch of 10-consecutive home games on Tuesday, Apr. 3, hosting Augustana in a single game with first pitch slated for 3 p.m. Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.