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Contact: Drew Sauer, Assistant Sports Information Director, 630-637-5324

Game One Box Score

Game Two Box Score

CAROL STREAM, Ill. (Apr. 11, 2015) – Claiming its third straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) series of the season, the North Central College baseball team split a doubleheader at Wheaton College on Saturday, winning the opener 10-0, before falling in game two, 10-6.
 
Cardinal starter Bryan Polowy twirled his second shutout of the season, allowing just five hits in game one, while the North Central offense put up six runs in the top of the fourth and four more in the fifth.
 
North Central batted around in the top of the fourth, as Sam Klein led off the inning with a hit by pitch to start the rally.  AfterJoe Paparone advance Klein to third with a single to right andChris Hill followed with a sacrifice fly to right, plating the game's first run.
 
After Vito DeRango singled to right, Jake Rone increased the Cardinal lead 2-0 with RBI groundout to second.  Bobby Smithimmediately followed with a single of his own, plating DeRango. 
 
Two batters later, Sam Carius drove in a run with a RBI single to left, while Nick Brandt capped the scoring with a two-RBI double, giving North Central a 6-0 advantage.
 
The Cardinals kept the runs coming in the top of the next inning as Hill drew a one-out walk, followed by DeRango reaching on an error and Rone reaching on a infield single to load the bases.
 
With one out still in the inning, Smith stepped to the plate and quickly launched a grand slam over the left field fence, his second homerun of the season, increasing the Cardinal lead 10-0.
 
Polowy shut the door the rest of the way, striking out four of the last five batters he faced, improving to 5-1 on the season while lowering his season earned run average to 1.02.
 
Smith led all batters with a 2-for-3 effort from the plate with five RBI and two runs scored.  DeRango also added a pair of hits to go along with two runs scored.
 
In the nightcap, North Central jumped on the board first as Hill lined a two-out double to right-center, scoring Klein who tripled two batters earlier.
 
Wheaton (11-17, 6-6 CCIW) countered with a run in the bottom of the first on a Kyle Mellinger sacrifice fly to right, knotting the score 1-1.
 
The Thunder offense kept rolling in game two, plating two runs in the bottom of the fifth and a six spot in the bottom of the seventh to take a convincing 10-2 lead after seven innings played.
North Central rallied for two runs in the top of the eighth and two more in the ninth, but the Wheaton deficit was too much to overcome, eventually falling 10-6.
 
Six of the nine Wheaton starters finished with multiple hits in the nightcap, handing Rone his third loss of the season on the mound, allowing four earned on 11 hits over 4 2/3 innings.
 
Peter Moran improved to 2-0 for the Thunder, allowing just two earned over seven innings pitched, striking out eight and walking two.
 
Klein, Brandt and Paparone accounted for nine of the Cardinals' ten hits, while the rest of the lineup combined to go 1-for-17 in the nightcap.
 
North Central takes on Wabash College on Tuesday, Apr. 14, with first pitch slated for 6 p.m. at the U.S. Steel Yard in Gary, Ind.