Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
Box Score
May 11, 2018 – Racking up double digits runs and hits for the second straight game in the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament, the North Central College baseball team rolled to a 15-4 win over Carthage College, advancing to the tournament championship on Saturday.
The Cardinals opened the scoring with a three-run bottom of the second, stringing together four-straight singles to begin the frame.
Colin Weilbacher and
Rob Marinec each singled to start the rally, before
Ryan Scott plated Weilbacher with a base hit to left center.
Matt Sutherland then reached via bunt single to load the bases for
Jeremy Quade who drove home Marinec with a fielder's choice.
Eric Outlaw capped the scoring in the inning with a RBI-groundout to put the Cardinals ahead 3-0.
North Central (27-12) increased the lead 4-0 in the bottom of the third, generating a two-out run as Weilbacher doubled down the left field line ahead of Marinec who promptly lined a triple the other way.
Things took a turn for the worse however for the Cardinals in the top of the fourth as two hit batters, a walk, an error and two hits came back to haunt the Cardinals as Carthage plated three runs in the inning, shrinking the lead 4-3.
Those woes carried over to the top of the fifth for North Central, as the Red Men loaded the bases with nobody out in the inning.
Patrick Schaefer was summoned out of the Cardinal bullpen and did a fantastic job, limiting the Red Men to just one run while inducing a double-play lineout and flyout to end the inning with the score knotted 4-4.
Schaefer held the Red Men to just one hit over the next two innings, while the Cardinal offense exploded for 11 runs over the final three innings at bat. With one out in the bottom of the fifth,
Mike Wisz lined a deep drive the other way as the Carthage right fielder collided with the fence, allowing the ball to roll away as Wisz sprinted around the bases with an inside the park homerun.
John Carmody followed with a double to left field and quickly came around to score on a triple off the bat of Weilbacher, giving North Central a 6-4 advantage.
North Central put the game out of reach in the bottom of the sixth, plating six runs on just three hits, but took advantage of two Red Men errors in the inning. After loading the bases with no outs, Carthage gifted North Central a pair of runs on a ball thrown awry by the Red Men third baseman, before Wisz plated two more with a triple off the right field fence.
Another Carthage error gave the Cardinals the fifth run of the inning, Sutherland drove home Weilbacher on a RBI-fielder's choice, increasing the North Central lead 12-4.
Carrying that momentum into the bottom of the seventh, Outlaw led off with a base hit, followed by a double off the bat of
Michael Mateja. After Outlaw scored on the third Carthage error of the ballgame, Wisz sent the Cardinals home victors with a walkoff two-run bomb over the right field fence, his second homerun of the day.
All nine batters in the Cardinal lineup recorded a hit, as Wisz finished 3-for-5 with two homeruns, a triple and five RBI, bringing his season total to 70, tied for second on the program's single-season list. Weilbacher was 3-for-3 from the plate with three runs scored, finishing just a homerun short of the cycle, while Quade also added three hits.
Mateja finished 2-for-5 with two runs scored, becoming just the third player in program history to record 200 career hits, needing just 13 more to tie Craig Stefan '87 for second on the all-time list. Marinec added a 2-for-3 performance from the dish with a walk, driving in two and scoring once.
Schaefer improves to 4-0 on the season, allowing just two hits over his three innings pitched with a strikeout.
North Central advances to the CCIW Tournament championship game tomorrow against…, needing just one win to clinch the title in the double elimination format. Additional information is available on the tournament website
HERE.
