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Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Box Score

May 1, 2015 – The North Central College baseball team clinched a share of the 11^th College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) regular-season championship in program history on Friday afternoon with a 8-5 win over Carthage College, the Cardinals first CCIW title since 2010.

Holding the tie-breaker over Illinois Wesleyan University, the Cardinals will host the CCIW Tournament beginning on Thursday, May 7.

The Cardinals (24-13, 15-4 CCIW) led early in the series opener, taking a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second as Chris Hill lined a one-out single to center field and would come around to score on a base hit off the bat of Sing Fong, plating the game's first run.

In the bottom of the fourth, North Central added to its lead asBobby Smith led off the inning with a triple to the right center field gap.  Smith came around to score the following batter asJake Rone reached on an error, increasing the Cardinal lead 2-0.

Cardinal starter Ben Krusen overpowered the Red Men (24-10, 11-8 CCIW) through the first six innings, allowing just four hits over that span, but ran into a little jam in the top of the seventh as Carthage rallied to plate a pair on three hits, knotting the score 2-2.

The tie ballgame did not last long as the Cardinal offense rebounded with a four spot in the bottom half of the inning. Vito DeRango started the rally with a leadoff infield single, while Klein lined a single of his own to center on the very next pitch.

After Joe Paparone advanced the two up a base, Hill shot a double into the right center gap, scoring the pair and giving North Central the lead right back 4-2.

With one on and two out in the inning, Rone lined a single to center scoring Hill, while Fong continued the two-out rally with a double to left center to plate Rone and increase the Cardinal advantage 6-2.

Krusen was pulled in the top of the eighth after allowing a two-run homerun to Reed Hero that cut the lead in half, 6-4 but Jordan Van Dyck shut the door in relief, recording the final two outs in the inning.  Van Dyck would allow a run in the ninth, but earned his third save of the season.

Krusen improves to 3-2 this season, allowing four earned on 10 hits over 7 1/3 innings pitched, striking out five and walking two.

Five Cardinals recorded multiple hits on the afternoon, as Fong finished 3-for-4 with two RBI, while Hill was 3-for-5 with two RBI and three runs scored.  DeRango also finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored, and Smith added three hits to go along with one run scored and one driven in.

The two teams square off again tomorrow with game one of the doubleheader slated for 12 p.m. in Kenosha, Wis.