NAPERVILLE, Ill. – Augustana's ninth-inning rally came up a run short Friday, as top-seeded North Central eliminated the second-seeded Vikings from the CCIW Tournament with a 5-4 defeat at Zimmerman Stadium. Coach
Greg Wallace's 24th-ranked club (35-9) will hope for an at-large bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament when the field is announced on Monday, May 24. The ninth-ranked Cardinals (36-8) move on in the conference tourney to face Carroll on Saturday, May 22 in Carol Stream, Illinois.
Hurlers
Max Mead (Lakewood HS, Lakewood, Colo.) and Nicholas Reitz controlled things early, matching goose eggs through three innings.
Augustana got on the board first with a run off Reitz in the top of the fourth.
Mitchell Owens (Moline HS, Moline, Ill.),
Matt Ozanic (East Leyden HS, Franklin Park, Ill.) and
Griffen Pschigoda (Wheaton-Warrenville South HS, Wheaton, Ill.) started the frame with consecutive singles. Pshigoda's hit scored Owens from second to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead and a
Matt Helms (Palatine HS, Palatine, Ill.) bunt single loaded the bases with no outs. However, Reitz responded with two strikeouts and induced a flyout to escape further damage.
Reitz hit
Michael Gattuso (St. Charles North HS, St. Charles, Ill.) and walked
Alex Simon (Hinsdale Central HS, Naperville, Ill.) to start the fifth, but Tyler Jones relieved him and got North Central out of the inning unscathed.
The Cardinals tied it with a run in the sixth.
Josh Chamberlain (Legacy HS, Thornton, Colo.) relieved Mead after back-to-back singles to start the inning. Rob Marinec scored the tying run on a wild pitch, but
Anthony Sus (Grandview HS, Englewood, Colo.) came out of the pen to coax a Michael Stoltz foul out and leave the bases loaded.
Luke Lehnen led off the bottom of the seventh with a triple and scored on Marinec's sacrifice fly to give North Central a 2-1 advantage. Augustana tied it in the top of the eighth on a walk to Pschigoda, a
Kyle Wise (Geneseo HS, Geneseo, Ill.) single and
Alec McGinnis' (Normal West HS, Normal, Ill.) sacrifice fly.
Paul Beverly's leadoff single sparked a three-run Cardinal eighth. Beverly scored the go-ahead run on a Lehnen sacrifice fly. Dom Listi singled in another run and the third scored on an error to give the hosts a 5-2 lead after eight.
North Central closer Patrick Schaefer started the ninth by hitting Gattuso. After moving to third on Simons' double to right, Gattuso scored on a wild pitch. Schaefer fanned the next two batters, but Pschigoda singled to left, plating Simon to draw the Vikings to within 5-4. Helms singled as well, putting the tying run in scoring position, but Schaefer got Wise to foul out to end the game.
Nolan Shannon (3-0), who threw a scoreless eighth, got the win. Schaefer was credited with his ninth save.
Jacob Reusch (Mercer County HS, Aledo, Ill.) took the loss, falling to 1-1 on the year. Mead went five innings, allowing just a run on five hits with a walk and two strikeouts.
Owens, Pschigoda and Helms each had a pair of hits for Augustana and Pschigoda drove in two runs. Lehnen, Beverly and Joe Rizzo had two hits apiece for the Cardinals.
