PICTURED: Ray Cekus
Twice North Park had victory snatched in the jaws of defeat as it lost a doubleheader to host Illinois Wesleyan University Tuesday afternoon in College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin action.
Coming off an emotional comeback victory over Carthage College Sunday night, the Vikings built leads in each of their two contests with the Titans only to unfortunately see IWU mount comebacks to earn a 20-16 Game 1 triumph and an 8-6 win in the second game.
Junior Greg Grana continued his hot streak at the plate as he extended his hitting streak to three games as he went a combined 3 for 8 in the doubleheader with a double, a home run and three RBI. His two-run home run in the second game gave the visitors a 2-1 advantage in the third inning and he later added a run-scoring double in the fourth – after Ray Cekus smashed a two-run homer in the third – to up the Viking lead to 5-1 at that point.
Wesleyan fought their way back into the contest however with single runs in both the sixth and seventh innings and then went on to earn their 11th win of the season with three runs in the bottom of the eighth.
A pair of five-run innings in Game 1, highlighted by a two-run single from Alec Strachota in the first and a two-run home run from Mitchell Jordan in the fourth put NP ahead 11-4, but IWU answered with five in its bottom half of the fourth, three in the fifth and five in the eighth off 24 hits.
Sophomore Brent Kessinger suffered the loss as he worked a 1/3 of inning. He gave up two runs on two hits as he moved his overall record to 1-5 on the season. Strachota finished with a run scored and four RBI.
North Park (7-13, 1-3) returns to action tomorrow afternoon when it travels to Kenosha, Wisconsin for a 4 p.m. contest with Carthage College.
