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

NAPERVILLE, Ill. (Mar. 26, 2023) - Playing their third game against a ranked opponent this season, the No. 17 North Central College baseball team lost 8-4 to No. 22 Aurora University in the Cardinals' first true home game of the year.

The Cardinals starting pitcher Luke Lamm held the Spartans scoreless in the first two innings of play. Sean Rivera doubled down the right field line and came around to score the game's first run on an RBI single. Another Aurora double put the score at 2-0 after three innings of action.

Aurora tacked on three more runs in the fifth inning thanks to a solo home run and four straight singles to make the score 5-0.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, John Michael Scumaci led off with a triple and scored on the next at-bat. Michael Davis doubled, followed by a Justin Rios single. With runners on the corners, Jared Wojcik hit an RBI single to plate Davis. With two outs, pinch hitter Trey Roach hit a clutch single to score Rios and bring the Cardinals with two, 5-3.

The next inning, Joe Hamilton hit a leadoff single and moved to second base later in the inning. Coming around to score from second, Hamilton's run on a single from Davis closed the gap to just one run, 5-4. 

After a scoreless eighth, Aurora took advantage of two North Central errors and scored three unearned runs to extend their lead to four, 8-4. The Spartans secured the win as they improved to 10-2 while the Cardinals moved to 11-3. Justin Zimmerman earned the win for Aurora with Jack Fisher claiming the save.

Lamm suffered the loss as he threw 4.0 innings, giving up two earned runs, and striking out three. Behling fanned five batters over his four innings of work. Davis and Wojcik tallied two hits and an RBI each. 

North Central hosts Franklin College (Indiana) on Wednesday at 4 p.m. This will be the 12th matchup between the Cardinals and Grizzlies (10-6), and the first to be played at Zimmerman Stadium.

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