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

Box Score

Mar. 21, 2021 – Despite shutting out Augustana College for eight innings on Sunday, the North Central College baseball team could not hang on in the ninth and ultimately dropped the series finale 3-2 in 10 innings at Zimmerman Stadium.

The Cardinals (7-2, 3-1 CCIW) scraped across an unearned run in the bottom of the third as Colin Weilbacher reached on an error and advanced to second on the play to lead off the inning.  Justin Rios then followed with a RBI-double to center, scoring Weilbacher to give the Cardinals a 1-0 lead.

North Central could not push across another run in the third and ultimately stranded 11 runners in the game, struggling to come up with the big hit at the right moment.

In the end that proved to haunt North Central, as Ryan Behling was dealing with a shutout intact through eight innings but Jacob Barker led off the bottom of the ninth which ended Behling's day.

With two outs, a runner on third and down to their final strike in the bottom of the ninth, Matt Ozanic delivered the biggest hit of the game for the Vikings, a double to right-center to plate the tying run and force extra innings.

Both teams started with a runner on second in the 10^th with a new-rule instituted by the NCAA this season, and Augustana loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the frame to put the pressure on the Cardinals.  With the bases full of Vikings, pinch hitter Kyle Wise lined a base hit through the left side, scoring a pair to give Augustana its first lead of the contest 3-1.

With Rob Marinec at second to start the bottom of the 10^th, Joe Rizzo grounded out to advance Marinec to third before Paul Beverly lofted a sacrifice fly to right to cut the deficit 3-2, but it was too little too late for the Cardinals as a groundout ended the game in favor of Augustana (9-2, 1-2 CCIW).

Behling received a no-decision on the mound for North Central, allowing one run on four hits over eight innings with nine strikeouts and zero walks.

Both Cardinal runs were unearned, as Augustana's John Hayes earned the win after tossing the final three innings, allowing only two hits.

Offensively, Rios finished 3-for-5 with a RBI, while Beverly was 1-for-3 with a hit by pitch and RBI.

North Central continues CCIW play on Wednesday, Mar. 24, hosting North Park University with first-pitch scheduled for 3 p.m. at Zimmerman Stadium.