Chicago, Ill. – The North Park University (6-0, 1-0 CCIW) baseball team is off to the best start in school history, using a 22-6 Thursday evening rout of the Concordia Chicago Cougars to get there. In a game that featured countless offensive standouts, Ranko Stevanovic led the way going 5-for-6 with three RBIs and four runs scored.
Jared Cantu got the scoring started in the bottom of the first, when Justin Woolbright reached on an error that got Cantu home. Brandon Davis followed that at-bat with a single that ended up scoring Stevanovic and Woolbright. Davis scored soon after cashing in on an RBI single from Jim Zay to put the home squad up 4-0 after one inning.
After Concordia responded with three runs in the top of the second, North Park refused to let their lead sit at one run for long. Six runs came across in the bottom of the frame with RBIs from Woolbright, Zay, Brad Maurer, and Nick Cecchi, while Davis grabbed himself a two RBI double.
Two more runs were scored for North Park in the bottom of the third, putting the score at 12-3 where it stayed for the next three innings. In the bottom of the sixth, the Vikings doused any Cougar hopes of a comeback with 10 runs in the frame. Stevanovic got the scoring going in that inning with a three RBI double down the right field line to put NPU up 15-3 before Maurer, Jake Reinhardt, and Ryan Moritsugu each helped some more runs cross the plate to send North Park into the eighth up 22-3.
From there, the final few innings weren't much more than a formality as the Vikings rolled to their sixth consecutive win to start the season by a score of 22-6.
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What's Next?
North Park (6-0, 1-0 CCIW) take their undefeated record into a three-game series with Millikin University (7-1) this weekend, starting with a doubleheader at home on Saturday, March 20th. First pitch is schedule for 1 p.m. at Holmgren Athletic Complex.
