Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Director of Athletics Communication, 630-637-5324
ELMHURST, Ill. (May 3, 2025) – Closing out the regular season with a doubleheader sweep of North Park University, the North Central College baseball team won two one-run games against the Vikings, highlighted by quality pitching and two home runs from
Parker Wyatt.
The Vikings opened the day with two runs in the top of the first inning, thanks to two hits and two walks. The Cardinal defense turned a double play behind AJ Kutcher, who worked out of the jam.
After Yuhki Yamada reached on a fielding error, Wyatt crushed his first home run of the day into the win and over the left field fence to knot the game at 2-2. Both starting pitchers settled in, not allowing a run until the sixth inning.
Wyatt led off the bottom of the sixth with a double down the left field line. John Michael Scumaci moved Wyatt to third on a sacrifice bunt before Caleb Coberely plated Wyatt on a sacrifice fly to put North Central in front, 3-2.
Jaedin Kotckei relieved Kutcher in the seventh and did not allow a Viking runner to touch third base to earn his second save of the season and secure the 3-2 victory in game one.
Kutcher improved to 4-2 on the season with six innings of work, striking out three and allowing just two runs. Wyatt scored twice while driving in two runs in the contest. He also drew the only walk of the game for North Central.
After Andrew Bollman struck out the side in the top of the first inning, Wyatt launched a two-run homer, his second of the day, as Jackson Bland scored to put the Cardinals ahead, 2-0. Austin Wienke, Scuamci, and Coberley hit three straight singles to tack on a run before Peyton Burgh scored on a fielder's choice to give North Central a 4-0 advantage.
Yamanda singled in the bottom of the second, moved to second base on a balk and third on a passed ball. Bland used a sacrifice fly to score Yamada and increase the Cardinal advantage to five.
North Park responded in the third as Alex DiVito drove in a run on an RBI double. The Vikings tacked on a run in the fourth inning and another in the fifth to bring themselves within two, 5-3.
Elijah Hammond entered the game in the sixth and worked around an error to keep the Vikings scoreless in the frame. North Park took advantage of multiple Cardinal miscues to close the deficit to just one run as a dropped third strike and an error allowed the visitors to come within a run, 5-4.
Ryan Gerdes relieved Hammond in a high-leverage situation and recorded two outs with runners on second and third to keep North Central in front. Gerdes induced a flyout and strikeout, but a wild pitch on the strikeout allowed the tying run to reach first base. Payton Diaz entered the game on the mound and locked up the 5-4 win with a putout and a strikeout.
Wyatt drove in a game-high two runs at the plate for the Cardinals. Bollman won his third game of the season with five strikeouts over his five innings of work. Hammond and Gerdes did not allow an earned run in their appearances. Diaz recorded his seventh save, tying the second-most in a single season in program history.
The Cardinals earned the No. 2 seed in the CCIW Tournament with the sweep today while holding the tiebreaker over Carthage College. North Central will take on the highest seed remaining on day two of the Tournament, hosted by Illinois Wesleyan University.
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