Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324
KENOSHA, Wis. (Apr. 29, 2023) - Moving to 23-10 on the year and 10-5 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, the North Central College baseball team scored 11 unanswered runs in game one on their way to a doubleheader sweep of Carthage College on Saturday at Augie Schmidt Field.
Starting pitcher Ryan Behling worked out of a bases loaded jam in the bottom of the first inning before the Firebirds scored three runs in the second on three hits.
The Cardinals offense answered in the third as Dom Listi drove in Joe Hamilton to plate North Central's first run of the game. After Justin Rios hit an RBI single to score John Michael Scumaci, Cole Gregorio put the Cardinals on top, 4-3, with a single that scored Rios and Rob Marinec.
Behling settled in and kept Carthage scoreless for the rest of his outing. With the bases loaded in the top half of the fifth, Hamilton drove in Gregorio and Rios before Scumaci hit a two-run double to plate Hamilton and Dave Fitzpatrick, giving the Cardinals an 8-3 lead.
Scumaci tallied his fourth RBI of the day in the seventh on a single up the middle to score Fitzpatrick and Luke Lehnen. Jared Wojcik would score the final Cardinal run of the game in the eighth as he pinch ran following Marinec's double. Wojcik came around to score on a Rios single as North Central's lead extended to 11-3.
Carthage tacked on a run in the ninth, but the Cardinals earned an 11-4 win in game one. Behling improved to 5-2 on the year with a six inning, five strikeout performance while Jaedin Kotecki picked up the save by throwing the final three innings of the game. Scumaci led all batters with three hits, four RBIs and one run. Rios and Hamilton each scored twice and drove in two on their two hits.
The Firebirds opened game two with a first inning run before Luke Lamm settled in and held Carthage scoreless until the sixth inning. In the fourth inning, Wojcik and Lehnen hit back-to-back solo home runs to give the Cardinals a 2-1 lead.
Marinec, Rios, and Wojcik all reached to load the bases in the top half of the sixth inning. Lehnen plated Marinec on a sacrifice fly before Fitzpatrick hit an RBI single to score Wojcik. Following a Firebirds pitching change, Hamilton greeted the new hurler with an RBI single. Danny Nuccio scored on a passed ball to push the Cardinals' lead to 6-1.
Carthage closed the gap in the bottom of the sixth as they scored three runs on two hits and one North Central error. The Cardinals added a few insurance runs in the seventh as Wojcik and Lehnen each hit RBI singles before Fitzpatrick reached on a fielder's choice to score Wojcik, putting the score at 9-4.
Carthage battled back in the seventh by scoring two more runs on a home run to right field. Marinec's double in the eighth moved Scumaci to third base. Wojcik grounded out to the third baseman, but brought home Scumaci, making the score 10-6. The Firebirds hit another home run in the bottom of the eighth, this time a solo shot to make the score 10-7.
Hamilton hit a sacrifice fly to score Fitzpatrick in the top of the ninth before Nolan Shannon closed the door in the bottom of the inning to give North Central an 11-7 victory. Lamm earned the win in his six innings with four strikeouts. Rios, Lehnen, and Hamilton recorded three hits on the day with Lehnen and Wojcik each driving in three runs.
The Cardinals face Webster University in their final home game of the season on Tuesday night. The game is set to begin at 4 p.m inside Zimmerman Stadium.
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