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

Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

Mar. 30, 2019 – Despite committing 10 errors over the course of the doubleheader, the North Central College baseball team was bailed out by its offense, coming away with a split with College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) rival Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday at Zimmerman Stadium.

Illinois Wesleyan (8-9, 1-2 CCIW) jumped on Cardinal starter Austin Polezoes for three first-innings runs as a base hit and walk put runners on first and second for Evan Ranneklev who promptly deposited one over the right-center field fence to give the Titans a 3-0 lead three batters into the contest.

Titan starter Nick Brune kept the Cardinal offense off balance all game, allowing just two hits over the first five innings while Illinois Wesleyan padded the lead with two more runs in the bottom of the sixth to open up a 5-0 lead.

Finally getting to Brune in the top of the eighth, John Carmody and Ryan Scott each delivered RBI hits to trim the lead 5-2 but it proved too little too late as Matt Blaney came in to shut the door and earn his second save of the season.

Brune improved to 3-1 with the win, allowing two earned runs over 7 2/3 innings, striking out six with two walks.

Polezoes suffered his first loss of the season, falling to 2-1, allowing five runs, four earned, on seven hits over eight innings.

Carmody and Matt Sutherland each finished 2-for-5 with a run scored in the opener, while Rob Marinec was 1-for-3 with a pair of walks.

The top four batters in the Illinois Wesleyan lineup accounted for six of their seven hits, led by a 3-for-4 showing from Garrett Shea.  Ranneklev was 1-for-4 with three RBI, while Dalton Fletcher and John Bosco each added a run batted in.

In a sloppy game two featuring 80 total at-bats, 25 hits, nine errors, 17 base on balls and seven wild pitches, North Central scored in each of the first five innings to jump out to a 11-3 lead.

After Illinois Wesleyan plated a run in the top of the first, Colin Weilbacher tied the game with a RBI-single through the right side, but the Cardinals stranded the bases loaded to end the frame.

With two quick outs to begin the bottom of the second, Sutherland doubled to right field while Jeremy Quade blooped a 1-2 curveball to left field, scoring Sutherland.  Quade then advanced to second on a wild pitch and came around to score two batters later on a base hit off the bat of Carmody.

John Petty added another run in the bottom of the third on a RBI-double to left center, before the Titans rallied for a two-spot in the top of the fourth, however the Cardinals answered right back with two unearned runs in the bottom of the inning, taking advantage of an Illinois Wesleyan error.

North Central (11-4, 2-1 CCIW) opened things up in the bottom of the fifth, scoring all five runs with two outs in the inning, as Weilbacher, Joe Rizzo and Ryan Scott all delivered RBI-base hits to open up a 11-3 lead after five.

Illinois Wesleyan got three of those runs back in the top of the sixth, but the North Central offense once again answered the call, rallying for a four-run bottom of the seventh as back-to-back walks to start the inning came around to score.  Scott drove in two more runs with a triple to right field, while Weilbacher plated another with a RBI-single and Ben Main trotted home on a wild pitch after entering as a pinch runner earlier in the frame to give put the game out of reach 15-6 heading to the eighth.

All nine batters in the Cardinal lineup recorded a hit in the nightcap, as Weilbacher finished 3-for-4 with two walks, three RBI and three runs scored.  Marinec also finished 3-for-4 from the dish to go along with a walk, hit by pitch and three runs scored. 

Scott added a pair of hits, three RBI and two runs scored, while Petty and Carmody each went 2-for-4 from the plate with a RBI.

Charlie Klemm improves to 3-0 on the season after allowing five runs, only two earned, over 5 1/3 innings, striking out five.

The two teams are back at it on Sunday with the rubber game contested at Horenberger Field in Bloomington, Illinois with first pitch slated for 1 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.