Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
DECATUR, Ill. (Apr. 2, 2022) - In their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin games of the season, the North Central College baseball team earned two wins over CCIW foe Millikin University with a 9-5 game one victory before beating the Big Blue 7-3 in the nightcap at Workman Family Baseball Field.
Starting pitchers Charlie Klemm and Caleb Buehrle kept the offenses in check through the first four innings of play as neither team was able to get on the board.
In the top of the fifth inning, Michael Davis was hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a failed pickoff attempt. He later came around to score the game's first run when John Petty hit an RBI single through the left side. Luke Lehnen and Dom Listi each reached to load the bases for Paul Beverly who doubled to left-center, giving the Cardinals a 3-0 lead.
The Big Blue battled back with two runs of their own in the bottom of the fifth. Leading off the top half of the sixth inning, Brad Novak sent a solo shot to left field to increase North Central's lead, 4-2.
After a scoreless sixth from Millikin, Beverly hit his second double of the game to bring home Listi. A Jared Wocjik walk forced the Big Blue to make a pitching change and take out one of the conference's top pitchers. Welcoming Drew Detmers to the ballgame, Justin Rios hit a two-run double before Petty singled up the middle to score Novak and put the Cardinals up 9-2.
Millikin added two runs in the eighth inning and another in the ninth, but it wouldn't be enough as North Central cruised to a 9-5 win in game one. Both Beverly and Novak tallied three RBI's while eight different Cardinals scored a run. Klemm picked up his third win of the season with six strikeouts and one earned run over his seven innings pitched.
Getting the nod in game two, Ryan Behling kept the Big Blue scoreless in the first two innings of play. Novak kicked off the top of the second inning with a leadoff triple and scored thanks to a Michael Patterson RBI single. Millikin tied the game at one in the bottom half of the inning.
With runners on first and second, Patterson moved Danny Nuccio and Novak into scoring position on a sacrifice bunt. Petty scored them both on a single to regive North Central the lead.
Listi walked to start the sixth and came around to score on Beverly's third double of the day, pushing the Cardinals' lead to 4-1. The Big Blue brought themselves back by scoring two runs in the seventh inning.
North Central hit three straight singles in the eighth inning, as Listi scored on Wojcik's single. Rios added another insurance run by hitting a sacrifice fly to score Beverly. To open the ninth inning, Nuccio homered to left field, pushing the lead to 7-3. Jason Shanner entered the game to pitch the ninth. He closed the door and held Millikin hitless to secure the Cardinals' 7-3 victory.
Nuccio, Listi, and Novak all scored two runs while Petty drove in two runs. Behling went 8.0 innings on the mound, striking out four and holding Millikin to just three wins on the way to earning his second win of the season.
Beverly became the most hit batter in program history with his hit by pitch in game one, passing former teammate John Carmody with 34 hit by pitches. Klemm moved into second all-time in career strikeouts with 207 while Shanner is fifth all-time with 179 strikeouts.
North Central completes the weekend series with Millikin tomorrow at Zimmerman Stadium. The first pitch is set for 2 PM and you can find live coverage options HERE.
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