NAPERVILLE, Ill. (May 1, 2022) -  Winning their seventh consecutive College Conference or Illinois and Wisconsin Regular Season Title, the North Central College baseball team staved off a late comeback attempt by Elmhurst University to earn their 28th victory of the season, and improve to 13-2.

Head coach Ed Mathey has now led his squad to a conference title in each of his first seven seasons back at the helm and is the tenth CCIW title of his career. This is the Cardinals' 17th CCIW Title in program history.

Starter Charlie Klemm struck out the side in the opening half-inning of play and added another strikeout in the top of the second inning. Jared Wojcik led off the bottom of the second with a double to right center. Trey Roach followed that up with an RBI triple to left center to give the Cardinals a 1-0 edge. With Roach on third, Michael Davis singled to center field to score Roach, and extend his hitting streak to 14 games.

Now working with a 2-0 lead, Klemm struck out two more Bluejays in the top of the third inning and another in the top of the fourth, allowing just one hit so far in the ballgame.

In the bottom of the fifth inning, Dom Listi doubled to left field and later advanced to third base on a wild pitch. With two outs, Wojcik hit a clutch RBI single to tack another run on the board for North Central, making the score 3-0.

Coming in relief for Klemm was Ryan Behling took over to start the sixth inning. He quickly settled in, keeping Elmhurst hitless in the next two innings. Over his three innings pitched, Behling struck out four and did not allow a run.

Entering the game in the ninth inning was Jason Shanner, who faced the heart of the Bluejay lineup. With runners on second and third, Elmhurst pushed their first run across on a wild pitch and brought the score to 3-2 with an RBI single. After a mound visit with coach Mathey, Shanner struck out Zachary Halfner to secure the 3-2 win and earn his sixth save of the season.

Klemm struck out eight batters in his five innings of work, tying the all-time record for career strikeouts with 238.  He picked up his team-high seventh win of the season. At the plate, Wojcik tallied two hits, a run, and an RBI on the day.

With the win, North Central now holds home-field advantage throughout the CCIW Tournament, beginning on May 11th.

The Cardinals face the University of Dubuque on Tuesday night in their final non-conference game of the season. The contest is set for 6 PM at Zimmerman Stadium.