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

Box Score

Apr. 28, 2019 – The North Central College baseball team saw its 13-game College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) win streak come to an end on Sunday, as Augustana College handed the Cardinals a 7-4 loss, spoiling the attempt at the series sweep.

North Central (25-9, 15-4 CCIW) struck first with three runs in the bottom of the second, as Colin Weilbacher singled to start the inning and Joe Rizzo sacrificed him to second while reaching on an error by the Viking pitcher.  Following a Jared Wojcik base hit to load the bases, Michael Stoltz drew a bases loaded walk to drive in the first run of the game.

With two away and the bases still loaded full of Cardinals, Jeremy Quade came through with a big two-out RBI single up the middle, scoring Wojcik and Stoltz to give North Central an early 3-0 advantage.

The Cardinal bats went silent from that point forward however, as Augustana (23-11-1, 12-7 CCIW) countered with two runs in the top of the fourth and three more in the fifth to overtake the lead 5-3.

Augustana added two more in the top of the seventh to take a 7-3 lead into the ninth inning.  Wojcik singled to lead off the bottom of the ninth for North Central, while Matt Sutherland walked to batters later to put runners on first and second with just one away.

Following a strikeout, Rob Marinec reached on an error, allowing Wojcik to come around and score, trimming the lead 7-4 with the tying run at the plate.  After pushing the count full to John Carmody, John Hayes induced a flyout to center to end the ballgame.

Jason Shanner suffered his first loss of the season for North Central, allowing five runs, four earned, on eight hits over his 4 2/3 innings.

Connor Berek earned the win for Augustana, allowing the three runs in the second though none of them were earned, on seven hits over his eight innings pitched.

Wojcik finished 3-for-4 with two runs scored, while Quade was 2-for-4 with a walk and two RBI.  Weilbacher also added a pair of hits and scored once, while Stoltz finished 1-for-3 with a walk and run scored.

Batters 2-3-4 in the Viking lineup attributed for nine of their 12 hits, combining to go 9-for-13 (.692) with six of the seven RBI and five of the seven runs scored.  Tyler Nunez and Ryan Grennemann each finished 3-for-4 while Mitch Owens was 3-for-5.  Grannemann drove in three runs and scored twice, while Owens also drove in three and Ryan Kairis scored twice from the leadoff spot.

North Central still holds a three-game lead atop the CCIW standings, finishing up the season series with Millikin University on Tuesday, Apr. 30.  First pitch of the doubleheader at Zimmerman Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.