Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
LOUISVILLE, Ky. (Mar. 4, 2023) - Competing against two teams that made the NCAA Tournament a season ago, the North Central College baseball team grinded out a 9-8 thrilling win over Kalamazoo College before falling 13-0 on No. 12 Denison University in game two.
The Cardinals took on Kalamazoo in their first game of the day and started off strong. Justin Rios and Dom Listi singled in the top of the first inning. Jared Wojcik hit the third single of the inning to score Rios. Trey Roach plated Listi on a sacrifice fly to give North Central a 2-0 advantage early on.
After a hitless bottom of the first from starting pitcher Ryan Behling, John Michael Scumaci singled to begin the second. Nolan King reached on an error before Rob Marinec belted a two-run double down the left field line to extend the Cardinals' lead to four.
Tacking on two more insurance runs in the third inning, Scumaci belted his first career home run as Roach also came around to score and put North Central up 6-0. The Hornets battled back with two runs of their own in two hits and a Cardinal error in the bottom of the third.
The 6-2 score stayed put until the sixth inning when King rallied with a double to score Danny Nuccio, who reached base on a dropped third strike. After a walk from Rios and a wild pitch from Kalamazoo, Marinec hit a sacrifice fly to right field, allowing King to score from third. Wojcik doubled to center field as Rios came around to score and give North Central a 9-2 lead.
Those runs would prove to be important as Kalamazoo used three hits and two Cardinals errors to score four runs in the bottom half of the sixth inning. They added two more in the seventh before Nolan Shannon came in from the bullpen to work out of a bases-loaded jam.
Shannon went three-up, three-down in the eighth and retired the first two batters of the ninth inning before having to leave the game due to an injury. With a runner on second, Jason Shanner entered the game needing just one out. He got it as Luka Bolton flew out to right field as the Cardinals held on for a 9-8 win over Kalamazoo.
Shannon earned his first win of the season as threw 2.0 scoreless innings with two strikeouts. Shanner picked up the one-out save for his first of the year. Scumaci and Wojcik ranked up two hits and two runs batted in while Marinec drove in three.
The Cardinals took on No. 12 Denison in game two of the Derby City Classic. The Big Red gained control of the game early and never looked back. With a 2-0 lead, Eric Colaco hit a three-run home run to increase their lead to five. After scoring three more runs in the third, Denison piled on four more runs on two hits in the fourth on their way to a 13-0 victory over the Cardinals.
Brad Novak and Jack Oberli recorded hits for North Central while Luke Lamm fell to 1-2 on the season. Anthony Raineri, Joe McKermitt, and Jaedin Kotecki all recorded scoreless outings on the mound.
North Central returns to play down in Florida as they begin their spring break trip against Babson College on March 11th at 9 a.m. (E.T.) on Centennial Park Fields (C10) in Port Charlotte.
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