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Wilmington Box Score
Dallas Box Score
CARBONDALE, Ill. (Feb. 23, 2019) – Opening the season on the turf of Itchy Jones Stadium on the Campus of Southern Illinois University, the North Central College baseball team shut out Wilmington College, 6-0 in the opener before rolling to a 8-1 final in the nightcap over the University of Dallas.
The Cardinal pitching staff dazzled in game one allowing just four hits while striking out 10 Quaker batters over the nine innings. Starter
Charlie Klemm went five innings to earn the victory, allowing just three hits and one walk while striking out seven.
Blake Kons entered in the top of the sixth, picking up where Klemm left off, giving up just one hit over his three innings with three punchouts while
Ryan Behling tossed a scoreless ninth to preserve the shutout.
After three hitless innings to begin the game for the Cardinal offense,
Rob Marinec picked up where he left off last season, crushing a mammoth two-run homerun through the wind over the left field fence to give North Central a 2-0 lead after four.
Continuing the scoring with a crooked number in the bottom of the fifth,
Eric Outlaw led off the inning with a base hit to right center, before
Colin Weilbacher lined a single back up the middle to begin the rally. Following a pair of strikeouts that nearly let the Quakers off the hook,
Matt Sutherland stroked a two-out, two-RBI single to center to score both Outlaw and Weilbacher. After advancing to second on the throw home, Sutherland came around to score on a base hit off the bat of
Jeremy Quade the following batter to increase the lead 5-0.
North Central added an unearned run in the bottom of the eighth to pad the lead, as Marinec finished 2-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored, while Outlaw also finished 2-for-4. Quade finished 2-for-3 with a walk, stolen base and a run scored, while Sutherland drove in a pair and scored once.
In the nightcap,
Austin Polezoes turned in another superb performance on the mound while the offense provided plenty of early fire power. Polezoes did not allow a run over his six innings of work to earn the victory, scattering just five hits while striking out six and walking none.
Scoring multiple runs in three of the first four innings, the Cardinals jumped on Dallas starter Conrad Voss early as
Ryan Scott lofted a two-out, two-RBI double in the bottom of the first to give North Central a 2-0 lead.
In the bottom of the third, Sutherland singled to lead off the inning and promptly came around to score on a double off the bat of Quade the following batter. After Marinec walked and
John Carmody moved the pair up a base on a ground out, Scott drove home his third run of the game with a single through the left side. Rounding first too sharply following his base hit, Scott proceeded to stay in a run down long enough for Marinec to score, increasing the lead 5-0.
Carrying that momentum into the fourth,
Ben Main was hit by a pitch with one out ahead of
Declan Smyth who line a single to left to put runners on first and second with one out. After the pair moved up on a balk, Sutherland plated Main on a RBI-groundout before Quade sent Smyth home on an infield single to give North Central a commanding 7-0 lead after four.
North Central added an insurance run in the bottom of the sixth on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Sutherland, before the Crusaders snapped the Cardinal pitching staff's run of 16 2/3 scoreless innings to start the season with a run in the top of the eighth.
Justin Rios came on to shut the door in the ninth, striking out the side in his first collegiate appearance, while Polezoes,
Jason Shanner and Rios combined to strike out 13 Crusader batters. Over the course of the two games, North Central pitchers struck out 23 batters and only surrendering just three walks, while the Cardinal defense committed just one error.
Quade finished the nightcap 2-for-4 with two runs scored and two driven in, while Scott was 2-for-3 with three RBI. Carmody also added a pair of hits, while Sutherland drove in two and scored once.
Voss was credited with the loss for Dallas (6-4), allowing eight runs, six earned, on nine hits over his six innings pitched.
North Central (2-0) goes for the weekend sweep tomorrow, squaring off with Blackburn College at 1 p.m. at Itchy Jones Stadium.
