PICTURED: Caleb Layden (Photo by Scott Smith)
In what was a close-knit ballgame through three innings turned for the worse in the latter half as North Park fell 11-3 to visiting Augustana College Sunday afternoon.
The victory completed a three-game series sweep for Augie as they earned their 21st win of the season and their 10th in conference.
NP looked prime to break the game open in the bottom of the first when it loaded the bases with one out after back-to-back singles from Nate Simons and Ray Cekus and a walk to Anthony Bragg, but the next two batters went down in order ending the threat.
From there the momentum seemed to shift in the visitors direction as Augie was able to plate a run in the third inning via an RBI fielder's choice. AC then broke the game open in the fourth by pushing across six runs, highlighted by a two-run home run from Nathan Gray. Single runs came across in both seventh and eighth innings for the visitors before NP was able to muster up a single run in the bottom half of the eighth and two in the ninth. Tyler Woolbright laced an RBI single to right center field, and Caleb Layden connected for a run-scoring single in the ninth to highlight the offense.
Layden unfortunately suffered the loss on the mound as he worked 3 1/3 innings. He struck out one batter. Â
North Park (4-11) looks to rebound Wednesday when it hosts the University of Chicago for a non-conference contest at 3 p.m.
