WESTFIELD, Ind. (Mar. 14, 2021) – In just his second collegiate start, pitcher Ryan Behling was light's out on Sunday, completing a nine-inning no-hitter in the Cardinals' 4-0 win over Spalding University to open the day, before the North Central College baseball team finished off the day's sweep with a 7-3 victory over Wabash College in the nightcap.
 
Despite only having 7 2/3 collegiate innings and one start under his belt prior to today, Behling was absolutely brilliant in game one, keeping the Golden Eagles off balance all afternoon, generating weak contact and holding Spalding to just a pair of walks and hit by pitches. 
 
Behling struck out six over the nine-inning no-no, sending the Golden Eagles (5-5) down in order in six of the nine frames while just one out was recorded out of the infield, an eighth inning flyout to center.
 
Spalding starter Caleb Collins held the Cardinals scoreless through the first five innings, recording 10 strikeouts in the process, but North Central eventually broke open the scoring with a pair of runs in the top of the sixth as Dom Listi led off with a triple to deep center field, before Colin Weilbacher promptly sent Listi home with a base-hit to center.  After a Paul Beverly walk and a Luke Gregorio sacrifice bunt, Michael Stoltz lofted a sacrifice fly to right field, scoring Weilbacher while giving North Central a 2-0 lead.
 
North Central added two unearned runs in the top of the ninth to provide Behling with a little more run support, but in turn forced the junior to wait out a long top-half of the ninth.
 
Michael Newsom lined out to first to begin the bottom of the ninth, before Behling struck out Evan Trentman for the second out.  Following a hit by pitch, Behling settled down to induce a groundout to third and complete the no-hitter.
 
Offensively, seven different Cardinals recorded a hit in the win, as Stoltz finished 1-for-2 with a walk, sacrifice fly and run scored, while Rob Marinec reached base four times, reaching on an error, walking twice and was also hit by a pitch.  Weilbacher, Joe Rizzo and Justin Rios each drove in a run, while Weilbacher, Listi and Luke Lehnen each scored once.
 
 
In the nightcap, the Cardinals jumped on the board right away as John Petty lined a one-out double to the right-center field gap and came around to score on a double off the bat of Marinec the following batter to take a 1-0 lead in the top of the first.
 
Wabash (3-5) countered with a run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the inning, but starter Jason Shanner posted four-straight scoreless frames following the first.
 
The Cardinal offense took the lead back in the top of the fifth, as Petty once again sparked a rally with a leadoff walk.  After advance to second on a wild pitch, Marinec repeated the first inning with another double to score Petty.  Two batters later, Marinec trotted home on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Listi to give the Cardinals a 3-1 advantage.
 
Shanner was pulled after five innings due to an early season pitch count in his first start of the season and the Little Giants capitalized, plating two runs in the bottom of the sixth to tie the score once again.
 
The tie ballgame did not last long however, as yet again Petty led off with a walk and Marinec brought him home, only this time Marinec launched his first big fly of the season, a two-run homerun to left center to re-gain the lead 5-3.
 
The Cardinals added two more runs in the top of the seventh, as Beverly delivered a one-out, two-RBI double, capping the scoring 7-3.  Nicholas Rietz, Patrick Schaefer and Tyler Jones each tossed a scoreless inning to finish off the Little Giants without allowing a hit over the final three innings with Rietz receiving the victory.
 
Marinec led the way offensively in game two, finishing 3-for-5 with two doubles, a homerun, four RBI and two runs scored.  Petty was 1-for-2 from the plate with a double, two walks, a hit by pitch and three runs scored, while Weilbacher finished 2-for-4 and Beverly added a pair of RBI.
 
North Central opens College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) play on Tuesday, Mar. 16, traveling to Carroll University with first-pitch from Frame Park scheduled for 2 p.m.