The Dominican University baseball team topped the North Central College Cardinals on Wednesday evening at Schaumburg Boomers Stadium, 7-5. The win, coupled with yesterday's 5-3 win over IIT marks back-to-back wins for the Stars for the first time since sweeping a doubleheader from the Aurora University Spartans on April 11.
The Stars opened a 5-0 lead with a three run bottom of the fifth. Freshman
Nathaniel Natividad (Oak Lawn, III.) started the inning with a single to left.
Cody Schuster (Las Vegas, Nev.) followed with a walk. After a strikeout,
Joe Lyons (Chicago Ridge, III.) doubled down the third base line to plate Natividad. The Stars then capitalized on a Cardinals' error, allowing Schuster and Lyons to cross before the inning was over.
North Central rallied back in the top of the seventh, plating five runs on three hits, three walks, a hit batter and a wild pitch. Dominican used three pitchers in the frame before
Quinten Hayes (Indianapolis, Ind.) eventually escaped the inning when he got Dylan Goss to pop out.
After the lead slipped away, Dominican answered with two runs in the bottom of the inning.
Kevin Schwer (Evergreen Park, III.) and
Richie Green (Chicago, III.) collected back-to-back singles after
Ryan DiCristofano (Streamwood, III.) walked, loading the bases for
Dillon Dell'Aquila (Huntley, III.). Dell'Aquila bounced a ball to short with Green sliding hard into second to break up the double play and allow the eventual winning run to score. With the inning extended,
Colin Janison (Las Vegas, Nev.) doubled to score Schwer as the Stars plated an insurance run.
Junior
Dakota Pisarek (Chicago, Ill.) came on in the top of the eighth, pitching around a two out single and a walk. In the ninth, the Cardinals put runners on second and third with nobody out before Pisarek slammed the door to pick up his second save of the season. Pisarek got Jake Rone to pop out to shallow right field before logging back-to-back punch outs to end the game.
Hayes picked up the win, getting the final out in the seventh. The sophomore was charged two earned runs on two hits and a walk to move to 1-1 on the season.
Offensively, the Stars managed 11 hits off of four different pitchers for the Cardinals. Green, Janison and Natividad picked up two hits apiece while Lyons went 1-for-4 with a RBI double and a run scored.
The Stars stand at 13-24 on the season heading into the final series of the regular season when the Wisconsin Lutheran College Warriors come to Schaumburg on Friday. First pitch for the Northern Athletics Collegiate Conference (NACC) twinbill is slated for 4:00 p.m.
