NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Elmhurst baseball team dropped both ends of a doubleheader at North Central College, falling 5-1 and 14-3 to the 14th-ranked Cardinals in a pair of CCIW contests.
Elmhurst slipped to 18-17 overall and 7-11 in the CCIW while North Central upped its record to 26-6 overall and 13-5 in league play. The pair of losses severely hurt the Bluejays' chances of a CCIW Tournament bid as the Bluejays now sit three games behind Carthage for the fourth and final spot in the CCIW Tournament. Just three games remain in the conference season and Carthage owns the head-to-head tiebreaker with Elmhurst.
NORTH CENTRAL 5, ELMHURST 1 (Game One) – North Central scored three runs in the first inning and three Cardinals' pitchers limited Elmhurst to just six hits and one run.
An RBI single from Chris Hill, an Elmhurst error and a sacrifice fly from Jordan Van Dyck gave North Central a quick 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first. The Cardinals added a run in the fourth to open up a four-run cushion before Elmhurst got on the scoreboard.
After straning runners in scoring position in the third and sixth inning, the Bluejays ended the shutout in the seventh. Elmhurst put runners on the corners with two outs and
Reagan McReynolds delivered a key, two-out single to pull Elmhurst to within three. North Central tacked on a run in the eighth to earn the 5-1 win.
Chris Eberhart collected two of the Bluejays' six hits in the loss to lead Elmhurst at the plate.
Ben Havel took the loss from the mound, dropping to 4-3 in the process. Havel allowed four hits and two earned runs in seven innings of work. He walked three and struck out three.
NORTH CENTRAL 14, ELMHURST 3 (Game Two) - - Elmhurst grabbed the lead first, but North Central scored four in the second and six in the third break the game open.
Elmhurst cracked the scoreboard first, taking a 1-0 lead in the first inning on
Austin MacMillan's RBI single. The Bluejays lead was short lived as the Cardinals struck for four runs in the second. The Bluejays cut the lead down to one with a pair of runs in the top of the third. Havel doubled home McReynolds to start the scoring and MacMillan picked up his second RBI of the game with a run-scoring single.
The Cardinals broke things open in the third, sending 10 batters to the plate and capitalizing on three walks to score six runs. North Central added a run in the fourth and three more in the fifth to score a 14-3 win in seven innings.
MacMillan recorded two of the Bluejays' five hits in the loss.
Justin Luzzi made the start and took the loss for the Bluejays. Luzzi allowed two hits and five runs in two innings of work. He walked two and struck out three. Elmhurst's bullpen was tagged for eight hits and nine runs while walking four and striking out five in four innings of work.
Elmhurst travels to Benedictine on Wednesday, May 4.
