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

Box Score

BLOOMINGTON, Ill. (Mar. 31, 2019) – Surrendering runs in the first inning for the third-straight game, the North Central College baseball team was unable to overcome the early deficit in the rubber game at Illinois Wesleyan University on Sunday, dropping the series finale 7-2 at Horenberger Field.
 
Illinois Wesleyan (9-9, 2-2 CCIW) sent 16 batters to the plate in the first two innings, including batting around in the bottom of the first as Cardinal starter John Clifford was roughed up for four runs on four hits and one Cardinal error over just 1/3 of an inning as the Titans led 4-0 after the first.
 
Carrying that momentum into the second, a leadoff single followed by a RBI-triple and RBI-groundout quickly padded the lead 6-0 heading to the third.
 
After putting up 16 runs in game two yesterday, the Cardinal offense mustered only two runs on the afternoon, as John Petty reached on an error and came around to score in the fifth and Colin Weilbacher drove home John Carmody in the sixth after Carmody doubled to leadoff the frame.
 
Illinois Wesleyan added an insurance run in the bottom of the seventh while the Hunter Simon and Eric Kozlowski held North Central scoreless over the final three innings.
 
Clifford falls to 3-1 on the season, while Eric Bennes earned the win for the Titans tossing five innings while allowing just one unearned run on three hits.
 
Carmody was the lone Cardinal with multiple hits, finishing 2-for-5 from the plate with a run scored while Ryan Scott tallied the only RBI of the afternoon.

Four Titans finished with multiple hits, as Nick Figus led the way with a 3-for-4 performance with a walk and two runs scored.

North Central (11-5, 2-2 CCIW) will host a midweek non-conference game with Aurora University on Wednesday, Apr. 3 with first pitch at Zimmerman Stadium scheduled for 3 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.