Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
STEVENS POINT, Wis. (May 22, 2022) - Ending their 2022 campaign, the North Central College baseball team lost twice to the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point in the NCAA Regional Championship as the Cardinals could not contain the Pointers' offense on Sunday at Zimmermann Field.
Following a hitless top of the first in game one from Charlie Klemm, Dom Listi led off the bottom half of the inning with a home run over the right field fence. Hitting his third home run of the tournament, Jack Oberli gave the Cardinals a 2-0 advantage in the bottom of the second inning.
The Pointers used two hits and two walks to even the score at two in the third inning. They took their first lead of the game in the fourth on a solo home run from Jakob Boos. Jaedin Kotecki entered the game in the fifth inning and worked out of a jam to hold UW-Stevens Point to just one run as they took a 4-2 lead after the top of the fifth inning.
Joe Hamilton hit his first career home run to open the bottom of the fifth inning, closing the Pointers' lead to one, 4-3.
Matt Ambrose came in relief of Kotecki after back-to-back walks to open the sixth inning. Anthony Tomzak hit a two-run single on the way to a four-run inning as the Pointers took an 8-3 lead in the sixth.
The Pointers piled on five more runs in the seventh inning and 14 additional runs in the eighth as UW-Stevens Point forced a winner take all Regional Final. Klemm struck out five in his four innings pitched. Listi scored and drove in a run in the game.
The Cardinals struck first again in game two as Listi singled, Luke Lehnen walked, and Trey Roach singled to load the bases. Jared Wojcik plated Listi on a sacrifice fly to center field before Beverly hit a clutch two-out single to right field, giving North Central a 2-0 lead after a half-inning of play.
Three Pointers reached base without a hit as a single and a three-run home run put UW-Stevens Point on top, 5-2. They added another run on a solo shot from Aaron Simmons in the second inning. In the fourth inning, Jakob Boos sent a two-run single through the right side to increase the Pointer lead, 8-2.
Listi singled up the middle, stole second, and scored on a Roach single up the middle. Oberli added a run to the Cardinals' total with his fourth home run of the tournament to lead off the sixth inning. Listi and Lehnen singled before Justin Rios walked to load the bases for Roach. Roach drew a hit by pitch to score Listi and bring the score to 8-5. Wojcik scored Lehnen and Rios, closing the gap to one. With Roach on third, Beverly grounded out to first base, allowing Roach to tie the game at 8-8.
After a scoreless bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh, UW-Stevens Point scored six runs on three hits to retake the lead, 14-8. The Pointers broke the game open with seven runs on five hits in the eighth inning to earn a 21-8 victory and advance to the NCAA Super Regional Round.
Listi led the Cardinals with three hits and three runs while Wojcik drove in three and walked in the second game of the day.
The Cardinals finished the season 35-14, tying the 1991 team for second-most wins in a single season in program history. This team set new school records for hits (558), runs scored (426), RBIs (386), and strikeouts thrown (430).
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