NAPERVILLE, Ill. (March 20, 2022) - Finishing their busiest stretch of the season, the North Central College baseball team defeated Saint Mary's (Minn.) 5-1 before using a walkoff single from Luke Lehnen to complete the series sweep of the Illinois Institute of Technology with a 9-8 win in 10 innings on Sunday at Zimmerman Stadium.

In a battle of the Cardinals, both pitchers dominated early as neither offense recorded a hit until the fourth inning. Paul Beverly led off the bottom of the fifth and came around to score on a Justin Rios single, putting North Central on top, 1-0.

Saint Mary's tied the game in the top half of the seventh inning as Tyler O'Brien hit an RBI single. 

North Central's offense came alive in the bottom of the seventh. Jared Wojcik reached first on a hit by pitch and scored the next at-bat thanks to a Trey Roach double to retake the lead, 2-1. Roach scored the next play as Beverly drove him in on a single to right field. After Danny Nuccio moved Beverly to second on a sacrifice bunt and Justin Rios was intentionally walked, Brent Swenson singled to plate Beverly. To cap off the four-run inning, Rios scored on a wild pitch.

Nolan Shannon came in during the ninth inning and picked up his third save of the season. Charlie Klemm posted his longest outing of the year with 6.2 innings pitched, seven strikeouts while allowing one run on the way to a no-decision. CJ Jensik earned the win as he went two innings allowing no runs and had one punchout. At the plate, Beverly led all batters with two hits and two runs.

Game two saw the Cardinals face the Scarlet Hawks for the third time in two days. After a scoreless first half-inning from starter Jaedin Kotecki, Rios hit a triple to deep center and later scored as Dom Listi earned the RBI, to give the Cardinals a 1-0 advantage. 

The Scarlet Hawks respond with two runs in the top of the third inning before the Cardinals tied the game in the bottom half of the inning. 

In the fourth inning, Zack Pacer scored to give IIT the lead on a Samuel Sproule single. That 3-2 score held until the seventh inning. After Rios reached on an error, Dom Listi belted an RBI double to right field to tie the contest, 3-3. Lehnen gave North Central the lead with an RBI groundout as Listi crossed home plate. With the bases loaded, Brad Novak walked before Wojcik scored on a wild pitch as the Cardinals took a 6-3 lead after seven innings of play.

IIT took advantage of two Cardinal errors as they put together a four-run eighth inning and retake the lead, 7-6.

In the bottom of the ninth inning, Lehned led off with a double over the left fielder's head to get himself in scoring position. He moved to third and later scored off a Wojcik sacrifice fly to center field, sending the game into extra innings.

Not going away, Illinois Tech rallied in the 10th inning. Peyton Vieluff and Timmy Old walked before Sproule hit an RBI single and gave IIT an 8-7 lead in the 10th inning.

Novak led off the half-inning with a hit by pitch to get the action going for North Central. Joe Hamilton and List walked to load the bases for Lehnen who stepped up to the plate. Down to a 1-2 count, Lehnen delivered a walkoff single through the right side of the infield, allowing Kolby Fujii and Hamilton to score and give the Cardinals a 9-8 victory.

Lehnen went 4-for-5 while driving in four runs to lead North Central on offense. Six different pitchers threw for the Cardinals as Shannon picked up his first win of the season. 

The Cardinals are idle until March 30th when they travel down Chicago Ave to take on Benedictine University at 3 PM. Find links to live coverage HERE.