Apr. 18, 2021 – Shutting out Carthage College for the third-straight game to complete the weekend series sweep, a complete game shutout from Luke Lamm propelled the North Central College baseball team to a 7-0 final on Sunday at Zimmerman Stadium.

Following up a pair of shutouts in Saturday's doubleheader sweep, Lamm wanted in on the action this afternoon, as Cardinal pitching shut down the Firebird lineup over the three-game sweep, allowing zero runs over 28 total innings.

Lamm retired the first nine batters he faced while the Cardinal offense got on the board early with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second on a two-RBI triple down the right field line off the bat of Paul Beverly, scoring Justin Rios and Jared Wojcik who were both hit by a pitch.

The Firebirds' best scoring chance game in the top of the fourth, as three-straight singles loaded the bases with nobody out.  Lamm settled in and froze Carthage's top homerun hitter in Austin Prybylinski on a called third strike, before Rob Marinec picked Ben Levicki off second base a few pitches later and Lamm struck Jake Cinelli out swinging the following pitch to escape the jam unscathed.

The Cardinal (19-5, 13-3 CCIW) offense added another crooked number in the bottom half of the sixth, as Wojcik walked and Beverly was hit by another pitch to start the inning.  Following a sacrifice bunt from Joe Rizzo to move the pair up a base, Luke Gregorio lofted a sacrifice fly to right to score Wojcik.

Michael Stoltz was then hit by a pitch, the sixth hit by pitch in as many innings for the Cardinals, while Luke Lehnen legged out an infield single to load the bags with two away.  On what should have been a routine ground out to end the inning, the Carthage (11-12, 6-10 CCIW) second baseman threw the ball away, allowing two more runs to score while increasing the North Central lead 5-0.

Lamm cruised to the complete game shutout after the sixth inning, facing just one over the minimum over the final three frames.  Lamm improves to a CCIW-leading 6-0 on the season, scattering just five hits, all singles, while striking out six over his nine innings of work on only 99 total pitches.

The Cardinal offense added two more insurance runs late on RBI-singles from Gregorio and Dom Listi.  Beverly reached base in all four plate appearances, going 2-for-2 with a triple, two hit by pitches, two RBI and a run scored.

Gregorio finished 1-for-2 with a sacrifice fly, hit by pitch and two RBI, while Listi added a pair of hits.  Rios, Wojcik and Stoltz each scored a pair of times, while Rios increased his hitting streak to 11 games with a single in the seventh.

Hitting the road for three-straight, North Central heads to Wheaton College on Tuesday, Apr. 20 with first pitch scheduled for 6 p.m. at Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream, Illinois.