Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
WESTFIELD, Ind. (Feb. 26, 2022) - Posting two five-run innings, the North Central College baseball team stormed past Manchester University 15-5 behind
Rob Marinec's five RBIs and
Dom Listi's four runs on Saturday on day one of the Grand Park Tournament.
Listi reached base after getting hit in his first plate appearance and advanced to third moved all the way to third a few pitches later. Putting the Cardinals on the board first was Marinec who scored Listi on a sacrifice fly to left field, giving North Central a 1-0 lead after a half-inning of play. Starting pitcher Charlie Klemm followed that up with a three-up, three-down top half of the first.
To open the second inning, Jared Wojcik singled, stole second, and moved to third base on a Brent Swenson fly ball. John Petty hit a clutch two-out single to plate Wojcik before Michael Patterson used an RBI single to score Petty from second as the Cardinals held a
3-0 advantage after two innings.
North Central extended their lead in the top of the fourth as Paul Beverly and Wojcik scored, thanks to a Spartan error. Listi followed with a triple to plate Luke Lehnen and Patterson. Marinec finished off the five-run inning with an RBI single to score Listi. Manchester answered with three runs in the bottom half of the fourth.
Listi added to his impressive day with a solo shot to right field in the top of the sixth inning. After a Marinec walk, he moved to third base on a Justin Rios double to the right-center gap. Marinec scored on a passed ball to put the Cardinals in double-digits, and take a 10-3 lead.
The Spartans used their second home run of the day to close the gap, 10-5 in the bottom half of the inning.
North Central responded in the seventh when Petty tripled and later scored on a passed ball. Patterson scored the Cardinals' 12th run of the game on a Lehnen RBI single to center field. With Lehnen and Listi on base, Marinec belted his third home run of the season to push the lead to 10, and take a 15-5 lead.
Ryan Behling, who entered the game in the sixth inning struck out two in the bottom of the seventh and secured the Cardinals' 15-5 win. Klemm picked up his first win of the season with six strikeouts over 4.2 innings.
With his triple in the fourth inning, Listi is now tied with Ken Ritter for the most career triples in program history with 14. He finished the day two-for-four with a home run, triple, four RBIs, and four runs. Marinec tallied two hits, five RBIs, and two runs on the day.
North Central finishes their trip to Westfield, Ind. at the Grand Park Tournament by taking on Heidelberg University at 12 PM (ET). To find live stats for that game, click HERE.
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