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

RIVER FOREST, Ill (Apr. 25, 2024) - Playing in their final non-conference game of the season, the North Central College baseball team fell 13-3 to Concordia University Chicago on Thursday afternoon at Cougar Field.

The Cougars pushed a run across in the first inning on a walk, passed ball and a single to plate the game's first run. In the second, Concordia Chicago opened up the game with a grand slam followed by a solo shot to take a 6-0 lead after two innings.

Frankie Valli led off the third with a double to right field, but was put out on the base paths on a Luke Lehnen line drive double play. Jackson Bland used a leadoff hit by pitch in the fourth to reach base safely for the 21st straight game. He moved to third base on a Trey Roach double and scored the Cardinals' first run of the game on a sacrifice fly from Dave Fitzpatrick.

Four hits from the Cougars in the bottom of the fourth added two runs to their total, taking an 8-1 advantage. Two singles and a passed ball scored an additional run in the fifth for CUC. They tacked on four more runs on four hits in the sixth innings to take a 13-1 lead.

In the top half of the seventh, Peyton Burgh, Kolby Fujii, and Vincent Merlo loaded the bases with no outs before Lehnen drew an RBI walk. John Michael Scumaci plated Fujii on a sacrifice fly, but that would be all the runs North Central scored as the Cougars won 13-3.

Fujii, Bland, and Burgh scored the three runs for the Cardinals as Fitzpatrick, Lehnen, and Scumaci drove them in. Andrew Bollman fell to 1-3 on the year with four innings pitched and eight runs allowed, six being earned. 

North Central turns the page to its final stretch of league play as they visit Carthage College for a doubleheader on Saturday. First pitch of game one is set for 12 p.m. at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha.

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