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

Game 1 Box Score

Game 2 Box Score

WHITEWATER, Wis. (May 19, 2019) – Beginning the day needing to take two games from Webster University, the North Central College baseball team came out on fire in the opener, leading from the start and winning 14-9 to force a winner-take-all finale at the Whitewater Regional Championship but ran out of steam late, ending the season with an 11-2 defeat at the hands of the Gorloks.
 
It was a tale of two games for North Central on championship Sunday, as the opener could not have began much better for the Cardinals, taking a 7-1 lead after two innings.
 
After Matt Sutherland walked to lead off the game, Jeremy Quade tied the program's career hits record with a double to right center ahead of Rob Marinec who prombtly deposited a fastball over the right field fence to give the Cardinals the early 3-0 lead.
 
Following a Gorlok run in the bottom of the first, Quade drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to push the lead back to three, while Marinec launched his second homerun in as many innings, again a three-run shot this time over the left field fence, his team-leading 11^th of the season.
 
Luke Lamm meanwhile settled in nicely on the mound for North Central, holding Webster scoreless while allowing just two base hits over the next five innings to give the offense a chance to pad the lead even further.
 
The Cardinals did just that as a run in the top of the fifth and three more in the sixth increased the lead 11-1 before Quade made history in the top of the seventh.  What he thought was a routine popup off the bat ended up falling in between three players in left center field, as the double for Quade was his 245^th career base knock, breaking Ken Ritter's '88 career record that stood for nearly 31 years.
 
After Quade's record-setting hit, the Cardinals padded the lead further as Marinec was intentionally walked for the second time in the game and John Carmody made the Gorloks pay, pulling a single through the left side to score a pair.  Colin Weilbacher then followed with a RBI-single to give North Central a 14-1 lead.
 
Webster made a late run with eight runs over the final three innings as their bats came alive late but the lead proved insurmountable at that point as Lamm earned the win in the opener allowing five runs in total over his 7 1/3 innings.
 
Batters 2-6 in the Cardinal lineup accounted for 13 of the 14 hits, including a 3-for-6 effort from Carmody while Marinec finished 2-for-3 with the two homeruns and six RBI and was intentionally walked three times, including once with nobody on base.
 
Ryan Scott finished 2-for-4 with a double, while Quade and Weilbacher each finished 2-for-5 and Joe Rizzo added two hits and two RBI.
 
The nightcap began the exact opposite as the opener, as Webster carried the momentum of the late-inning rally of the opener into game two and took a 7-1 lead early and never looked back. 
 
After scoring 38 runs over their three-game win streak to push the regional to a final game, the Cardinal bats ran out of magic at the end of the day, mustering just a pair of runs as Gorlok starter Matt Mulhearn was magnificent and was deservedly so named regional most valuable player for his effort.
 
Coming off just one day rest after leading the Gorloks to a win in the regional opener over Bethany Lutheran College on Friday, Mulhearn tossed seven innings in that game and threw over 120 pitches and seemed unfazed, keeping the Cardinals off balance all game.  The junior allowed just one run on four hits over his seven innings with six strikeouts, throwing over 110 pitches to earn two of Webster's three wins in the tournament.
 
Using up all four starting pitchers to get to the regional final, Patrick Schaefer made his first start of the season despite leading the team with 19 appearances.  The Gorloks got to Schaefer early on a pair of homeruns in the first and third innings to end up on the losing end of the decision.
 
Marinec and Scott were each named to the All-Tournament Team, as both hit two homeruns in the regional, Marinec driving in nine total runs and Scott drove in seven to cap his career on a high-note.
 
Quade finishes his four-year career playing in more games (182) than anyone to wear a Cardinal uniform, not missing a game in center field in four seasons while playing in four-straight regionals. Quade added another base in game two to increase his career-high to 247, while also finishing atop the career top-10 in at-bats (760), stolen bases (73), runs scored (196), while ranking second in walks (112), fourth in total bases (298), fifth in sacrifice flies (nine) and ninth in hit by pitches (23).
 
Sutherland ends his career ranking seventh in hit by pitches (25) and ninth in walks (82), while Nick Rogalski pitched the final inning of game two, a scoreless frame to make his 83^rd and final appearance as a Cardinal, appearing in more games on the mound than any pitcher in history of the program.
 
North Central finishes the season with an overall record of 34-13, the second-most wins in program history behind the 35-win 1991 squad.  The Cardinals also set new single-season benchmarks in walks (242) and stolen bases (103), while tying the record for strikeouts (336) and saves (12).