Apr. 22, 2018 – In a battle of two teams atop the College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) standings, the North Central College baseball team jumped out to a big lead in the rubber game of the three-game series against Carthage College and cruised to a 9-2 victory.

North Central (17-8, 12-2 CCIW) has now won its first four CCIW series of the season, outscoring opponents 140-60 over the first 14 games of the conference schedule.

The Red Men (24-6, 11-3 CCIW) struggled mightily in the field in the bottom of the first inning, committing four errors and the Cardinals made them pay, plating five runs on five hits.

Jeremy Quade and Eric Outlaw each singled to start the frame, while Quade moved up to third on a throwing error following Outlaw's base hit.  Michael Mateja then reached an the second error of the inning, driving home Quade in the process to put the Cardinals on the board.

After a pair of fielder's choices looked to stymy the Cardinal rally, Rob Marinec came through with a clutch two-RBI single to right field, scoring a pair, while advancing to second on an error by the Carthage right fielder.  Ryan Scott promptly followed with a RBI-single to left, scoring Marinec, followed by another base hit from Colin Weilbacher to put runners on first and second with two gone.

Batting around in the inning, Matt Sutherland reached on the fourth Red Men error of the inning, allowing Scott to come around and score while giving North Central a 5-0 advantage.

The Cardinals added to the lead in the bottom of the third, as Sutherland tripled to right field, sending Scott and Weilbacher around to score, increasing the lead 7-0.

Starter Austin Polezoes had a shutout working through five innings until a lead off double in the bottom of the sixth came around to score on a sacrifice fly.

North Central took that run right back in the bottom of the sixth on a RBI-triple off the bat of Mike Wisz and a RBI-single from Marinec to take a 9-1 lead.

Polezoes finished what he started on the mound, allowing just five base hits over his nine innings of work, striking out eight and did not allow a walk until the ninth inning, improving to 2-0 on the season.

Carthage used six pitchers on the afternoon, with Nate Odahl receiving his first loss of the season after entering the contest 5-0, allowing seven runs, only three earned, on eight hits over his three innings.

The bottom three batters in the Cardinal lineup combined to go 7-for-12 from the plate with a walk, as Weilbacher finished 3-for-4 with a run scored and Scott finished 3-for-5 with two runs scored and a RBI.  Marinec finished 2-for-5 from the dish with three RBI and a run scored, while Outlaw and Wisz also added a pair of hits.

North Central returns to action on Tuesday, Apr. 24, hosting non-conference opponent Aurora University with first pitch at 3 p.m.