Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

MONTGOMERY, Ill. (Apr. 21, 2022) - Taking a break from conference play, the North Central College baseball team found themselves on the wrong side of a top 25 matchup as No. 21 Aurora University won 5-2 on Thursday evening at Jim Schmid Field.

Luke Lehnen opened the game with a single through the left side. After stealing second and advancing to third on a wild pitch, Rob Marinec hit a clutch two-out single to score Lehnen and give the Cardinals a 1-0 advantage.

Starting pitcher AJ Kutcher kept the Spartans off the board in the bottom half of the first. Aurora tied the contest in the second inning on a sacrifice fly to right field. Both pitchers settled in as neither team scored until the fifth inning when Jared Wojcik belted his third home run of the season over the left field fence.

Again Aurora responded as they scored three runs on two hits in the bottom of the fifth inning to take a 4-2 lead into the final three innings of play. After adding an insurance run in the seventh inning, the Spartans forced a Cardinal double play following back-to-back singles from Marinec and Paul Beverly. 

In the top of the ninth, Michael Patterson drew a leadoff walk but North Central was unable to capitalize as Aurora secured the 5-2 win. Anthony Touhy improved to 3-0 on the season while Kutcher fell to 0-2. Marinec led the Cardinals with three hits in his four trips to the plate.

North Central returns to CCIW play on Saturday as they visit Augustana College in a pair of pivotal conference matchups between the top two teams in the CCIW. Game one of the doubleheader is set for 1 PM at Swanson Stadium in Rock Island.

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