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

Box Score

Apr. 9, 2019 – Suffering their most lopsided loss of the season, the North Central College baseball team dropped a non-conference matchup to local rival Benedictine University on Tuesday, 14-5.

The train fell off the tracks early for North Central (14-7), as Benedictine sent 12 batters to the plate while taking advantage of three Cardinal errors in the second inning to plate eight runs.  Five of those eight runs came via Jack Surin, as the Eagles had one homerun on the season in 658 at-bats heading into the afternoon, but Surin doubled that total in the second inning alone, leading off with a solo shot to left center before crushing a grand slam later in the inning to nearly the same spot in left center.

North Central added a run in the bottom of the second as Justin Rios scored on a wild pitch, but the Eagles returned the favor with a run in each of the third and fifth innings to open the lead 10-1.

A solo homerun from John Carmody in the fifth and a two-run shot from Rob Marinec in the sixth cut the lead to 10-4, but the Eagles responded yet again with a three-spot in the top of the seventh to push the lead back to nine.

The Cardinal defense was little help to the pitching staff, committing five errors while misplaying numerous fly balls leading to seven of the 14 runs being unearned.  Starter John Clifford received the loss, lasting just one-plus inning, allowing six runs, three earned, on three hits while surrendering four walks.

Carmody finished 3-for-3 with his CCIW-leading fifth homerun of the season, while Marinec was 2-for-5 from the plate after homering in his third-straight contest.

Five of the nine batters in the Benedictine lineup recorded multiple hits, led by a 3-for-6 performance from Surin, finishing with six RBI and two runs scored.

North Central looks to shake off the loss with a return to College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play on Wednesday, making the trek down to Decatur, Illinois to take on Millikin University with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Sunnyside Park.  Links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.