PICTURED: Cam Adams (photo by Scott Smith)
North Park suffered a doubleheader loss to host Wheaton College by scores of 4-2 and 11-1 in Carol Stream Monday afternoon.
Sophomore hurler Brent Kessinger pitched well enough to win in the first game, working seven solid innings, but a pair of Wheaton runs in the eighth broke a 2-2 tie and were ultimately the deciding factor.
NP fell behind 2-0 through three innings but managed to tie the score with single runs in both the fourth and seventh frames. Cam Adams connected for an RBI single – his third-straight run-scoring hit in the first two games of the series – and David Scholz singled and scored on Cullen Gilbertson's reach on an error, but Wheaton plated two in the eighth without the benefit of a hit when a bases-loaded hit by pitch and an RBI sacrifice fly to left field factored in the final verdict.
Kessinger struck out three batters and walked three while giving up only two earned runs. Senior Mario Creecy came on in relief and fanned one batter in an inning of work.
In Game 2 North Park took an early 1-0 lead when Mitchell Jordan walked and scored on Scholz' reach on an error in the second inning, but Wheaton responded in a big way as its offense came alive in the fifth and eighth innings as it tallied three runs in each frame. James Pagni suffered the loss on the mound as he worked 4 2/3 innings. He struck out five batters and walked only one as he moved his overall record to 0-2.
North Park (14-23, 5-13) looks to rebound this weekend when it hosts Elmhurst College for a single game Friday night at 6:30 p.m. followed by a doubleheader in Elmhurst Saturday at 12 p.m.
