MOLINE, Ill. (Mar. 20, 2021) – Backed by two dominant starting pitching performances, the sixth-ranked North Central College baseball team improved to 3-0 in College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play with a doubleheader sweep of Augustana College on Saturday by scores of 6-2 and 13-2.

In the opener, Charlie Klemm tossed all nine innings and held the Vikings to just a pair of fourth-inning runs, only one of them earned, striking out eight and walking just one.

The Cardinals (7-1, 3-0 CCIW) opened the scoring in the top of the second, stringing together three singles including a RBI-base hit from Luke Gregorio to score Luke Lehnen, before increasing the lead 2-0 in the top of the fourth as Paul Beverly singled with one out and came around to score on a Dom Listi triple later in the inning.

After Augustana (8-2, 0-2 CCIW) tied the score with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame, the Cardinals busted the game open with a four-run top of the seventh.  Listi led off with a single to right field, followed by a sacrifice bunt from Gregorio, walk from Michael Stoltz and base knock from Colin Weilbacher to load the bags with just one away.

Justin Rios followed with a run-scoring fielder's choice to score Listi, while Rob Marinec followed with a big two-out base hit to center, scoring Stoltz.  Continuing the two-out rally, Joe Rizzo singled home Rios before Beverly was hit by a pitch.  Lehnen then drew a bases loaded walk to score Marinec to cap the scoring and secure the game one victory.

Klemm gave up just one hit after allowing the two runs in the fourth, improving to 2-1 on the season and moving into a three-way tie for fourth on the program's all-time wins list with 18.

The Cardinals recorded 12 hits in the opener and six different players drove in a run, led by 3-for-5 performances from each of Weilbacher and Listi, while Rizzo added a 2-for-5 showing.

North Central ran away with game two in the later innings but were first backed by seven shutout innings from Jason Shanner, scattering just two hits while striking out nine batters to earn his first win of the young season.

Offensively, the Cardinals opened game two in identical fashion with a run in each of the second and fourth innings as Gregorio once again plated the first run of the game on a RBI-single to left, scoring Nolan Shannon who singled with one out.

In the top of the fourth, Beverly led off with a single to right and later came around to score on a RBI-single off the bat of Stoltz to take a 2-0 advantage.

Scoring in the final four innings, North Central added an unearned run in the top of the sixth as Brad Novak reached on an error and scored on another error later in the frame, while the Cardinals added another two runs in the seventh.

The Cardinals really poured it on late, taking advantage of six Viking errors in the nightcap, to score three in the eighth and five more in the ninth. 

Finishing with 16 more hits in game two, the Cardinals out-hit the Vikings, 28-7 on the day and were powered by three hits from Rios and two each from Lehnen, Marinec, Listi and Gregorio in the nightcap.  Marinec also walked, drove in a pair and scored twice, while Lehnen and Rios each scored twice.

The Cardinals go for the three-game sweep tomorrow in the home opener at Zimmerman Stadium with first pitch against the Vikings scheduled for 1 p.m.