PICTURED: James DeGeorge (Photo by Scott Smith)
North Park delivered its second walk-off victory in the last week and a half as it earned a comeback 9-8 win over visiting Benedictine University in non-conference action Thursday night.
Junior pinch-hitter James DeGeorge came up with the game-winning hit when he laced a run-scoring single to right-center field which got away from the right fielder allowing both Cullen Gilbertson (fielder's choice) and Jacob Woolsey (pinch ran for Mitchell Jordan) to score.
Up until that point, North Park had stranded seven runners on base. The Vikings fell behind 4-2 after four innings, but fought their way back with three runs in the sixth to command a 5-4 lead. Tyler Woolbright connected for an RBI double, Cam Adams drove in a run on an RBI groundout and Jordan connected for an RBI single as part of the three-run frame.
Benedictine quickly erased the deficit with three runs in the eighth to move ahead 7-5, but North Park showed its true resiliency and came back to tie the score at 7-7 with two of its own in the bottom half of the eighth. After Anthony Bragg walked, he later came home on Woolbright's reach on an error and Niko Buck, who pinch ran for Woolbright, scored on a wild pitch.
Senior pitcher Mario Creecy earned the victory on the mound and moved his overall record to 3-2 as he worked one inning. He struck out one batter and walked none. Both Jimmy Park and Jimmy Roach came on in relief of NP starter Caleb Layden (5 innings, two strikeouts) and combined for four innings.
North Park (9-17) looks to continue its momentum this weekend when it hosts Millikin for a three-game series Saturday and Sunday, beginning at 3 p.m.
