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

Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

Apr. 16, 2019 –  Outscoring Carroll University, 28-8 over Tuesday's twin bill, the North Central College baseball team swept its second-straight series while winning its eighth-straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) game in the process.

After allowing a run in the bottom of the first inning playing as the road team in both games, the Cardinals scored 12 unanswered runs while starter Luke Lamm settled in nicely and posted zeroes over his final seven innings of work.

North Central (20-7, 10-3 CCIW) took the lead with a pair of runs in the top of the second and never trailed from that point forward, as Ryan Scott and Michael Stoltz each delivered two-out RBI-singles to open the scoring for the Cardinals.

Adding two more in the top of the third, Rob Marinec lined a laser over the left field fence, a solo shot  for his seventh long ball of the season, before Scott singled home Colin Weilbacher for his second RBI in as many innings to put the Cardinals ahead 4-1.

In the top of the fourth, Marinec drove in another run on a sacrifice fly, before Jeremy Quade and Joe Rizzo each delivered RBI-singles in the top of the sixth, extending the Cardinal lead 7-1.

North Central added three more in the seventh and two in the eighth to end the game after eight innings, as Lamm completed what he started, improving to 4-0 on the season with the win, tossing eight innings of one-run ball with three strikeouts.

The offense racked up 18 hits in the opener, as six different Cardinals tallied multiple hits.  Stoltz led all players with a 3-for-5 showing with two runs scored and a RBI, while Quade, Marinec and Scott each added two hits and two RBI apiece.  Rizzo also recorded two hits, while also added two hits and scored three times.

Game two could not have started much worse for North Central, as the Pioneers (10-18, 2-10 CCIW) strung together six-consecutive hits in the bottom of the first to plate six runs while forcing Cardinal starter Alex Marquardt out of the game after just 2/3 of an inning.

The Cardinal bullpen provided some crucial relief, as Patrick Schaefer, Justin Rios, Nick Rogalski and Will Welch combined to finish the final 8 1/3 innings, allowing just one unearned run and five hits the remainder of the contest.

North Central proved why they play all nine innings, chipping away at the lead one run at a time, starting with a solo homerun off the bat of Marinec in the top of the third, his second of the day to cut the lead 6-1.

Things started to fall apart for the Pioneers in the top of the fourth, as North Central pushed across three runs, two of them unearned to trim the lead even further 6-4 heading to the fifth.

Continuing the offensive onslaught in the top of the fifth, Carroll committed two more errors to allow another three runs to cross the plate while the Cardinals opened the game wide open with four more runs in the sixth as Weilbacher drove home a pair with a single up the middle, while Rizzo added a RBI-single and Eric Outlaw a RBI-groundout later in the frame to extend the North Central lead 11-6.

After Carroll's unearned run in the bottom of the seventh cut the lead 11-7, North Central scored five more runs over the final two innings on five more Carroll errors to put the game out of reach.

Carroll finished game two with eight total errors, while the Cardinal offense totaled 16 hits led by Weilbacher's 4-for-5 showing with a hit by pitch, four runs scored and four RBI.  Rizzo finished 3-for-5 in the nightcap with a pair of runs while Outlaw and Jared Wojcik each drove in a pair.

Quade moved into sole position of second-place on the program's career hit list, as his 218 pass North Central Hall of Famer Craig Stefan '87, while inching closer to the career runs scored record, needing just six to tie Ken Ritter '88, also in the North Central Hall of Fame, for most all-time.

Rogalski's appearance marks the 75^th of his four-year career, tying the program record set by Derek Elftmann '02 nearly 16 years later.

North Central begins the three-game series with Carthage College on Friday, Apr. 19, hosting the doubleheader at Zimmerman Stadium with first pitch slated for 12 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.