CAROL STREAM, Ill. (Apr. 21, 2021) – Behind season-highs in hits and runs scored, the North Central College baseball team scored the final 12 runs of the game and ran away with a 20-8 win on Wednesday over Wheaton College, extending its win streak to nine games.

North Central (20-5, 14-3 CCIW) recorded 21 hits in the game, the most in a game since 2015, while taking advantage of five Wheaton errors to plate 20 runs for the first time since 2019.

The Cardinals jumped out to an 8-3 lead but Wheaton (8-17, 4-13 CCIW) plated five runs in the bottom of the sixth to knot the score at eight.

Re-gaining the lead with a run on a Luke Lehnen RBI-fielder's choice in the top of the seventh, North Central went from a tie game in the sixth to ending the game in the eighth, sending an astounding 17 batters to the plate to score 11 runs on 10 hits in the inning.

Rob Marinec led off the top of the eighth with an infield single, while Paul Beverly walked and Jared Wojcik reached on an error to load the bases.  Following a strikeout, Joe Rizzo plated the first run of the inning with a RBI-single through the left side, before Luke Gregorio followed suit with a single to left, scoring a pair while advancing to second on the throw home.

With runners on second and third with one out, Michael Stoltz lined a single the other way to score Rizzo, before Lehnen singled up the middle to plate Gregorio.  Dom Listi then got in on the fun, scorching a two-run triple to left, before trotting home on the second base hit of the inning off the bat of Marinec.

A few batters later, Tyler Cristofaro delivered a pinch-hit RBI-base hit to center, while Gregorio scored another with his second hit of the frame, a single up the middle to score Wojcik.  Stoltz then came through with his second single of the inning, scoring Cristofaro and finally capping the scoring in the eighth to take a 20-8 lead.

Five different Cardinals recorded multiple hits on the evening, led by Marinec's career-best 5-for-6 performance with three RBI and two runs scored, as his three RBI move him into sole possession of third on the program's all-time record list. 

Lehnen finished 4-for-6 with four runs scored and three RBI, while Gregorio was 3-for-5 with four runs driven in and two scored.

Rizzo was also 3-for-5, scoring one and driving in one, while Stoltz finished 2-for-4 with a pair of RBI and runs scored.  Listi's eighth-inning triple gives him six on the season, moving into a tie for third on the program's single-season record list while moving into a tie for ninth on the all-time list.

Patrick Schaefer entered the game in the sixth and proceeded to shut down the Wheaton lineup over his 2 1/3 innings pitched to earn his second victory of the season.

The Cardinals make the trip down to Millikin University on Saturday, Apr. 24 for a CCIW doubleheader at Workman Family Field slated for a 1 p.m. start.