Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
CAROL STREAM, Ill. (March 5, 2022) - Extending their winning streak to seven games, the North Central College baseball team scored a total of 25 runs on the day as they swept a doubleheader against Ripon College on Saturday at Lee Pfund Stadium.
Game one saw the Red Hawks score first as they took a 2-0 lead after the first half-inning. The Cardinals answered with back-to-back doubles from Dom Listi and Rob Marinec to put North Central on the board. After Paul Beverly was hit by the pitch and Luke Lehnen singled, Justin Rios plated Marinec on a sacrifice fly to left field. Jared Wojcik followed that up with a double to center field to put the Cardinals on top, 3-2 as Beverly scored.
Ryan Behling put the Red Hawks down in order during the top of the second inning. The Cardinals were also held scoreless in the bottom half of the second.
Ripon added two more runs in the third to hold a 5-3 advantage. In the bottom of the fourth, Michael Patterson singled to open the half-inning. John Petty doubled to left-center to score Patterson. The Cardinals used a Red Hawk error to tie the game at 5-5. Marinec and Beverly hit back-to-back doubles to re-take the lead before Lehnen tripled and Rios doubled, giving North Central an 8-5 lead after four innings of play.
Each team tacked on a run in the fifth inning and was held scoreless in the sixth. After Ripon scored another run in the top half of the seventh, the Cardinals answered with back-to-back doubles again, this time from Brent Swenson and Patterson. They each came around to score before Lehnen hit an RBI single to score Listi who reached on a fielder's choice. Rios doubled to left-center to give North Central a 14-7 edge after the seventh inning.
Nick Tarrell hit his first home run of the game in the eighth inning before belting his second in the ninth. Nolan Shannon held off the Ripon comeback and earned his second save of the season as the Cardinals won game one 14-11.
Klemm earned the win as he moved to 2-0 on the season while Shannon posted his second save of the year.
Listi kicked off game two with a two-run shot to right-center, bringing home Petty and giving North Central a 2-0 lead. After a scoreless first frame from Luke Lamm, Marinec hit a grand slam scoring Petty, Patterson and Brad Novak in the second inning.
Lamm held the Red Hawks to no runs in his five innings pitched. In the bottom of the fifth, Wojcik hit his first home run of the season to push the Cardinals' lead to seven. Ripon scored their first run of the contest in the sixth before Novak used an RBI single in the seventh to score Lehnen.
The Red Hawks added a run in the top half of the eighth before Marinec and Beverly hit back-to-back home runs to secure the 11-2 win. Jason Shanner earned his second save of the year by pitching four innings and striking out nine. Lamm improved to 3-0 on the year with five innings of shutout baseball while striking out eight.
On the day, Marinec drove in eight runs on six hits while Lehnen went five-for-five in game one with two runs and two RBIs. Listi scored five runs on the day with two RBIs as well.
Both Klemm and Lamm move into second-place all-time with 20 career wins, just three away from tying Matt Richards' record of 23 career wins.
North Central begins their spring break trip on Friday as they take on Saint John's University in Port Charlotte, Fla. at Centennial Park Fields. You can see the full spring break schedule HERE.
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