The Cardinals (17-11) jumped out to an early lead scoring their first three runs in the first inning, and adding two more in third. To start off the game, the Rockford pitching staff struggled putting Sam Carius and Nick Brandt on base right away with a pair of walks, as Joe Paparone had the first RBI of the game to start it off.
After a line drive double to left center by Vito DeRango, Brandt and Paprone crossed the plate to increase the first inning Cardinal lead to 3-0.
North Central and Rockford (13-14) were quiet with scoring until the top of the third inning when Paprone hit a deep sacrifice fly to score Brandt. The Cardinals weren’t done scoring as the team executed a double steal as Chris Hill stole second, and Sam Klein came in to steal home plate, increasing the North Central lead to 5-0 in the top of the fifth inning.
Rockford would swing back scoring one run in the bottom of the third as the Cardinals would then proceed to score another two runs in the top of the fourth inning. Carius would be responsible for the RBI as he grounded out to the shortstop and a Brandt single RBI up the middle.
The Cardinals would not score for the remainder of the game as Rockford made it interesting scoring one run in the bottom of the sixth and four more in the bottom of the ninth to make the score 7-6 and a North Central College win.
Jake Staab is credited with the save as he recorded the final out of the ninth inning, and Andre Houser improves to 2-0 this season allowing two earned runs over six innings.
The Cardinals will face off against Elmhurst this Saturday, Apr. 18 with a double header beginning at 1 p.m.
