BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – North Central put the final touches on its first College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) Baseball Championship since 2019, finishing a three-game sweep of the tournament with an 11-7 triumph over host Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon at Horenberger Field in Bloomington, Ill.
The Cardinals (26-17) finished the tournament with a perfect 3-0 record, winning their opener on Thursday versus Carthage and taking a pair from the host Titans on Friday and Saturday. The victory gave NCC its 11th CCIW Championship victory.
NCC finished the day with 15 hits, headlined by a 4-for-4 effort from right fielder Parker Wyatt, who fell a double short of the cycle. Jackson Bland and Austin Wienke each tacked on three hits, as the Cardinals finished the day with six extra-base hits.
The Titans (28-15) pounced on the Cardinals early, taking a 2-0 lead on Justin Gadomski’s home run just two batters into the game. The advantage was short-lived. NCC answered with three runs in the bottom of the frame thanks to Bland’s RBI double, Wyatt’s run-scoring triple and a sacrifice fly from John Michael Scumaci for a 3-2 cushion.
The NCC lead swelled to 7-2 after a pair of runs in the third and fifth innings. Facing the five-run deficit, IWU rallied to force a 7-7 tie. The Titans sent 10 batters to the plate during the barrage, which included consecutive RBI hits from Tristan Figus, Gage Wolfe and Tyler Woltman. The game was ultimately tied, 7-7, on an RBI groundout off the bat of leadoff hitter Matt Hudik.
The Cardinals answered with their own rally in the bottom of the inning. Scumaci punched a two-out, two-run single into center field and later came around to score thanks to an RBI double by catcher Henry Saul.
Payton Diaz did the rest for the Cardinals’ pitching 3.2 scoreless innings of relief. He allowed only three baserunners over the final three innings. He was credited with his third win of the season after coming on in the sixth to put an end to the IWU rally.
Cade Tomhave finished 3-for-5 for the Titans. Jimmy Gurgone added two RBI.
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The College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin (CCIW) was founded in 1946 and currently services nine member institutions including Augustana College (Rock Island, Ill.), Carroll University (Waukesha, Wis.), Carthage College (Kenosha, Wis.), Elmhurst University (Elmhurst, Ill.), Illinois Wesleyan University (Bloomington, Ill.), Millikin University (Decatur, Ill.), North Central College (Naperville, Ill.), North Park University (Chicago, Ill.) and Wheaton College (Wheaton, Ill.).