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Box Score

May 9, 2015 – Falling behind early, the North Central College baseball team never found its stride Saturday afternoon, falling at the hands of Illinois Wesleyan University, eliminating the Cardinals from the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Tournament play.

The Titans (26-15) jumped ahead with a run in the bottom of the first as Tim Coonan led off with a single through the right side and Derek Idstein followed with a double to left to begin the rally.  Two batters later, Matthew Mardis lofted a sacrifice fly to center, scoring Coonan and giving Illinois Wesleyan a 1-0 lead.

North Central responded right back with two runs in the top of the second as Joe Paparone led off the inning, pulling a double down the left field line while Bobby Smith reached via hit by pitch to start the rally.

After a strikeout, Jake Rone beat out an infield single, loading the bases for Sing Fong, who proceeded to line a shot right back up the middle, plating a pair and giving the Cardinals a 2-1 advantage.

The Cardinal lead lasted but one innings as the Titans added to its lead with three runs on five hits in the bottom of the third inning, stringing together four straight singles with two outs to take a 4-2 advantage.

After Illinois Wesleyan added another run in each of the fourth and fifth innings, taking a 6-0 lead, the Cardinals broke through with a two spot in the top of the sixth.  Chris Hill got the scoring started with a RBI infield single, plating Sam Kleinwho singled up the middle to lead off the inning.

Rone followed suit with a single of his own to right field that was bobbled by the Titan right fielder, allowing both runners to advance, and while attempting to throw out Hill at third, the ball sailed into the third base dugout, allowing Hill to take home while cutting the lead to 6-4.

Titan starter Dan Truesdale finished what he started, allowing just one hit over the final three innings, to improve to 3-0 on the season with the complete game victory, allowing four runs, three earned, while striking out five and walking one.

Evan Blunk was credited with the loss for North Central, allowing four earned on eight hits over 2 2/3 innings pitched.

Hill lad the Cardinals from the plate, finishing 2-for-4 with a run batted in and run scored, while Rone also added a pair of hits on the afternoon.  Fong finished 1-for-4 from the dish with two RBI.

The Cardinals finish the season with an overall record of 26-16, tied for the seventh highest win total in program history, while posting a conference record of 16-5, earning the program's 11^th regular-season conference championship.