CAROL STREAM, Ill. (Apr. 15, 2019) – Forced to move the series finale to the turf of Lee Pfund Stadium, the North Central College baseball team completed the series sweep of Elmhurst College on Monday, clawing out a 2-1 pitcher's duel behind 8 1/3 sparkling innings from Jason Shanner.
 
The Cardinals (18-7, 8-3 CCIW) broke open the scoring in the bottom of the third inning, as Jared Wojcik was hit by a pitch to lead off the inning.  Some heads up base running from Wojcik forced the Bluejays hand, going from first to third on Michael Stoltz sacrifice bunt to third, as nobody covered third for Elmhurst and on the subsequent throw in an attempt to nab Wojcik the ball was thrown away allowing Wojcik to trot home on the unearned run.
 
Shanner was cruising through five, allowing just one hit while striking out four, but the Bluejays put runners on first and third with one out in the sixth for Tyler Kledzik who tied the game with a RBI-fielders choice but Shanner induced a flyout to limit the damage to just one run.
 
A bit of patience at the plate turned into a run in the bottom half of the sixth for North Central, as three consecutive walks to begin the inning loaded the bases for Ryan Scott who lofted a sacrifice fly to center field, scoring John Carmody in what proved to be the game-winning run.
 
After a hitless seventh and eighth, Shanner allowed a base hit to lead off the ninth and was pulled with one out and a runner on first after eclipsing the 100-pitch mark.  Tyler Jones was summoned from the bullpen and walked the first batter he faced but settled down to induce a game-ending 6-4-3 double play to record his team-leading third save of the season.
 
Shanner improved to 3-0 with the win, allowing just one run on four hits over his 8 1/3 innings, striking out eight while walking none.
 
Colin Weilbacher recorded two of the three Cardinal hits while also walking once, while Jeremy Quade finished 1-for-2 with two walks.  Scott finished with the only RBI on the evening for North Central, while Carmody and Wojcik each scored once.
 
North Central finishes the three-game set with Carroll University tomorrow, as the doubleheader has been moved to Naperville, Illinois with first pitch at 12 p.m. at Zimmerman Stadium.  The Cardinals will be the road team in both games tomorrow, while links to live in-game coverage are available HERE.