PORT CHARLOTTE, Fla. (Mar. 3, 2020) – Overcoming an early deficit, the 13^th-ranked North Central College baseball team came back to defeat Saint John's University (Minnesota), 7-5 on Tuesday at North Charlotte Regional Park, improving to 5-0 on the young season.

The Johnnies (2-1) scraped across a run in the top of the first as Wyatt Ulrich reached on an error to lead off the game and later came around to score on a sacrifice fly.
After North Central (5-0) stranded the bases loaded to end the bottom of the first, Saint John's capitalized by adding two more runs on four singles in the inning to increase the Cardinal deficit 3-0.

Shaking off the early jitters, the Cardinals quickly erased the Johnnies' lead in the bottom of the second as Jared Wojcik led off with a single through the left side and Dom Listi was hit by a pitch to start the rally.  Following a fielder's choice for the first out of the inning, Colin Weilbacher walked to load the bags.

With the bases packed full of Cardinals, Saint John's starter Sam Hanson gifted North Central its first run on a wild pitch as Listi trotted home to put the Cardinals on the board.  Following a strikeout, Rob Marinec came through with a huge two-out double, lining the first pitch he saw to left center, scoring Michael Stoltz and Weilbacher while evening the score 3-3.

Carrying that momentum into the bottom of the third, North Central took its first lead of the game as an infield single off the bat of Stoltz scored John Carmody who walked to lead off the frame.

Saint John's was quick to re-tie the score however, as Taylor Fourre cranked his first homerun of the season to left field to lead off the fourth.

Taking a 4-4 tie into the bottom of the sixth, Stoltz led off with another infield single and advanced to second a few pitches later on a wild pitch.  Two batters later, Justin Rios drove a line-drive base hit to right, scoring Stoltz from second to regain the lead 5-4.

Rizzo advanced to second on the throw home in an attempt to nab Stoltz, forcing the Johnnies to intentionally walk Marinec, his third in five games this season, but Carmody made the Johnnies pay with a base hit the other way, scoring Rios while giving the Cardinals a much needed insurance run.

That run loomed large for the Cardinals as Joey Stock immediately cut the lead 6-5 with an opposite field solo homerun to lead off the seventh, the second solo shot of the day for the Johnnies.

Following the homerun, Patrick Schaefer settled down to retire the next six batters he faced while the offense added another run in the bottom of the eighth on a Joe Rizzo RBI-single to preserve the win.  Schaefer earned his second win of the season, while Rios took the mound for the ninth and retired all three batters he faced to earn his first save of the year.

Starter Austin Polezoes received a no-decision, allowing four runs, three earned on nine hits over his five innings, striking out seven and walking a pair.

Marinec reached base four times on the afternoon to pace the offense, finishing 2-for-3 from the plate with a walk and hit by pitch, while also driving in a pair, moving him into 10th-place in program history with 114 career runs batted in.  Stoltz added a 2-for-4 performance from the nine hole, scoring twice while driving in one.  With his hit by pitch in the first inning, Carmody becomes the all-time leader in program history with 32 in his career.

With another day off in between games, North Central returns to play on Thursday, Mar. 5, taking on Misericordia University at 12 p.m. (ET).