In Saturday's opener at the Gene Cusic Classic in Fort Myers, Florida, North Park dropped a 10-inning contest to Ohio Northern University, 8-5.
The two teams were scoreless through three innings. Viking starter Nick Soldano helped his own cause by picking off runners in the first, fourth, and fifth innings. North Park finally broke through with a single run in the bottom of the fourth. Joe Belmonte led off with a single and came around on a Dan Sabin double to deep left center. The Polar Bears answered with three unearned runs in the fifth. Following a one-out walk and a single, ONU's Tyler Deitering dropped a bunt between the mound and third base. Soldano made an athletic grab, but his throw to first eluded Belmonte and went down the right field line, scoring two and putting Dietering at third. A sacrifice fly made it 3-1 ONU.
The Vikings regained the lead in the bottom of the fifth. Connor Sarant singled, Zak Worsley walked, and Eric Sousanes drove in Sarant with a base hit. Worsley took third but Sousanes was thrown out trying to advance to second. Tommy Endres followed with a triple to center to score Worsley, and a groundout off the bat of Belmonte gave North Park a slim 4-3 advantage.
The Polar Bears got a two-out single in the seventh to tie the game at four apiece and took advantage of some miscommunication in the eighth to go back up by a run. Leadoff batter Nick Guitar hit a high popup in front of home plate that Viking catcher Cam Adams could not locate; Belmonte charged in from first and collided with reliever Jason Meger as the ball tipped off his mitt. Two fly balls moved the runner up and in before Meger could retire the side.
North Park put itself into position for a walk-off win in the bottom of the ninth but was unable to close the deal. Sarant led off with a single, Worsley was hit by a pitch, and a sacrifice bunt by Eric Sousanes loaded the bases when the throw to third was too late to get Sarant. Endres then hit a shallow fly ball to left that was misplayed for an error; Sarant scored and the bases remained loaded. However, ONU reliever Zach Maier got Belmonte to ground into a 1-2-3 double play and Sabin grounded out to send the game into extra innings.
Reliever John Nemcek was greeted with a solo home run to right off the bat of ONU cleanup hitter Dan Belliveau. Three more singles knocked Nemcek out of the box in favor of Merrick McGrady. A Viking error led to one run and a sacrifice fly put the Polar Bears on top, 8-5, before McGrady could record the third and final out. Maier gave up a leadoff single to Mike Coduto before retiring the next three Vikings in order for the win.
Soldano worked seven innings, striking out four and walking two while allowing one earned run. Nemcek (0-1) was charged with the defeat. Endres (a single, a double, and a triple) and Sarant (three singles) paced the Vikings' 12-hit attack.
North Park (2-4) faces Olivet tomorrow in the second game of the Gene Cusic Classic.