Mar. 27, 2019 – Controlling the game from start to finish, the North Central College baseball team began its quest for a fifth-straight College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) title on Wednesday with a 11-1 drubbing of Carroll University in the conference opener at Zimmerman Stadium.

The Cardinals (10-3) jumped on Carroll starter Cameron Godinsky for six runs over the first four innings.  Jeremy Quade put the Cardinals on the board early as the second batter of the game hit his first homerun of the season, a solo no-doubter to left.  The hit was also Quade's 200^th of his career, becoming just the fourth player in program history to eclipse the mark.

Not finished in the bottom of the first, Rob Marinec followed Quade's homer with a double down the left field line and later came around to score on a Colin Weilbacher infield single, increasing the lead 2-0.

After a pair of quick outs to begin the bottom of the second, Michael Stoltz beat out a bunt single, stole second and scored on Matt Sutherland's single to center, generating a big two-out run.

North Central notched another crooked number in the third, as a Joe Rizzo RBI-double and Eric Outlaw RBI-single plated a pair to give the Cardinals a 5-0 lead after three.

The five-run cushion allowed Cardinal starter Luke Lamm to sit back and pound the strike zone, surrendering just four base hits, all singles, over his seven-inning complete game.  Three Cardinal errors in the top of the sixth took the shutout away from Lamm, but the freshman still got out of the inning allowing just one unearned run, earning his first collegiate victory.  Lamm has now struck out 21 batters on the season while walking only one batter.

Taking a 6-1 lead into the bottom of the seventh, the Cardinal offense exploded for five runs, doing so with just two hits while taking advantage of a Pioneer error to end the game after seven innings.

North Central ran wild in the early parts of the contest, successfully swiping their first seven stolen base attempts while the offense also held a 13-4 advantage in hits.  Quade led all batters finishing 3-for-5 with four RBI, a run scored and a stolen base, moving into sole position of fourth on the career hits list (202) and second in stolen bases (53).

Weilbacher finished 2-for-3 with a walk, two runs scored, two stolen bases and a RBI, while Sutherland and John Carmody each finished 2-for-4.  Rizzo and Outlaw each drove home two runs while Stoltz drove in another, as the bottom four in the lineup accounted for five the RBI on the afternoon.

North Central begins a three-game weekend series with Illinois Wesleyan University on Saturday, Mar. 30, traveling to Bloomington, Illinois with game one of the doubleheader slated for 12 p.m. at Horenberger Field.