Contact: Nicholas Osterloo, Director of Athletics Communication, 630-637-5324. Story Written by Athletics Communication Graduate Assistant Alex Mielcarz, ajmielcarz@noctrl.edu
NAPERVILLE, Ill. (April 25, 2026) – The Cardinals showed off a balanced ball club at its Saturday round robin hosted at Zimmerman Field, as the pitching staff was dazzling in a 3-2 defeat of the Milwaukee School of Engineering, and the offense was explosive in a 12-5 win over Wabash College.
Game One vs. MSOE
Payton Diaz toed the rubber for the Cardinals and added yet another gem to his list of quality starts. The sophomore two-way dazzled in 6.2 innings of work, striking out six without conceding a walk. Diaz gave up just five hits and two runs, neither of which was earned.
He opened up the first inning by stranding a leadoff single and garnering the first of his six strikeouts. He then retired the side in order in the second before striking the side out in order in the third.
The Cardinals got Diaz some run support in the second. With two outs, Caleb Smith sent a ball through the left side for a single before Yuhki Yamada smoked a ball to the right-center field gap for an RBI triple that plated Smith. Luke Wallace brought home Yamada in the ensuing at-bat with an RBI single to take a 2-0 lead.
Diaz retired his seventh, eighth and ninth consecutive batters in the fourth inning, and added his 10th, 11th and 12th consecutive outs in the fifth.
Diaz ran into trouble in the sixth, as two runs scored following a Cardinal throwing error and an MSOE triple to right center, evening the score at two.
The Cardinals got one of the tallies back in the bottom of the frame, as Caleb Coberley brought home Wallace on an RBI single to give North Central the 3-2 lead.
A pair of hits in the top of the seventh had the Raiders threatening, but Elijah Hammond worked himself out of a jam, coaxing a groundball to first base to end the bases-loaded, two-out threat.
Hammond allowed a pair of two-out singles in the eighth, but escaped the jam with another groundball to the right side.
Up one in the ninth, coach Ed Mathey sent Hammond out to finish off the save. The veteran right-hander got the leadoff man to pop out, allowed a single, then retired the next two batters via the backwards "K" and a flyout, respectively, securing the win for the Cardinals and the save for himself.
Hammond pitched 2.1 innings, giving up no runs and just three hits while striking out two and not allowing a walk. The Cardinals' pitching staff allowed just two free passes in the ballgame, both being hit batsmen.
The Cardinal offense mustered seven hits against a tough MSOE pitching staff, with Yamada and Wallace recording a pair of hits and an RBI each. Yamada scored twice, while Smith went 1-2 from the nine-hole and scoring once.
Game Two vs. Wabash
After the Cardinal pitching staff had its time in the sunlight in the matinee, it was the offense that showed out in the nightcap, as the Cardinals used an eight-run eighth to complete a comeback win over Wabash, the club's 20th win of the season.
After starter Camden Loomis sent the Little Giants down in order in the first, the Cardinals got on the board. Yamada singled and advanced on a balk before Diaz singled to center to bring in the go-ahead run with two outs. Wallace and Peyton Burgh then walked to pack the sacks with Cardinals, but North Central was unable to cash any of the runs in, as the Wabash pitching staff escaped the inning with a strikeout.
Wabash evened the score in the second with an RBI single and took the lead in the third with another RBI knock. The score of 2-1 stood until the bottom of the fourth, when Parker Wyatt plated Jackson Bland with a sac-fly after Bland hit a leadoff triple, the first of two extra-base hits for Bland on the night, tying the score at two.
The two offenses went dormant through the sixth, until Wabash broke the scoreless streak with a two-run seventh, scoring runs on an RBI double and a sacrifice fly. North Central, as it had done all game, responded in kind, scoring two runs in the bottom of the inning.
A pitch hit Wallace and stole second. Burgh then walked. Wabash then attempted to pick off Wallace at second base, but the throw went into center field, allowing both runners to advance 90 feet into scoring position.
Bland brought both of his teammates home with a double to deep right field, but he was thrown out on a brilliantly executed relay by the Little Giants at third, ending any further scoring threat.
After Wabash took the lead in the eighth, 5-4, with an infield single, the Cardinal offense exploded for eight runs on six hits to take the lead back. In the inning, Coberley authored an RBI single and came around to score on a passed ball, Wallace blasted a two-run double, Burgh had an RBI single, Bland demolished a ball to right for a two-run homer, and Yamada scored on another passed ball.
With the game well in hand, the Cardinals turned to Gavin Rosengren to close out the game. He pitched around a walk and a single to toss a scoreless inning and finish off a 12-5 win.
Loomis pitched four innings of two-run ball, with only one being earned. Ryan Gerdes, who entered in the eighth, gets credit for his second win of the year after conceding three hits and zero runs in his lone inning of work. The Cardinal bats turned in 14 hits while coaxing eight walks.
Bland was 3-5 in the nightcap with a game-high four RBI, while Wallace collected a pair of hits and RBI himself.
The Cardinals are back on the road tomorrow, as they take on the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago at 12 p.m.
