PICTURED: Cody Leuzinger
On Saturday afternoon the North Park baseball team opened up its spring break trip to Fort Myers, Florida on the losing end of a 13-4 decision against Amherst College.
Amherst got on the board in the second when a costly infield error by the Vikings – one of six in the contest – led to four unearned runs against starting pitcher Mario Creecy. A fifth unearned run in the fourth and two earned runs in the fifth off reliever Eric Bacon put the Vikings in a 7-0 hole. North Park finally managed a tally in the sixth on doubles by Nate Simons and Ray Cekus. The third Viking hurler of the day, Cody Leuzinger, held Amherst in check over 3 1/3 innings before finally giving up a run in the eighth to make it 8-1 Amherst. North Park mounted its only rally of the game in the bottom of the eighth: Simons and Caleb Layden hit back-to-back singles and David Scholz walked to load the bases with none out. Cekus connected for a run-scoring single, and Layden also scored on an errant throw. Scholz then came in on a wild pitch to cut the deficit in half, but that would be as close as the Vikings could get. A five-run ninth on four hits, three walks, and an error against four different Viking pitchers put the game out of reach.
With the loss, North Park falls to 1-6 on the season. The Vikings look to get back on track with a noontime contest on Sunday against Lakeland College.
