NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The North Park baseball team's magical end of season run came to an end on Friday evening after a two-loss day at the conference tournament. The first contest a pitching duel that came down to a slim 2-1 victory for the Augustana Vikings, before NPU fell in the nightcap to No. 15 North Central College by a score of 10-9, despite outhitting the Cardinals.

North Park put up the first run in the clash with Augustana, striking right away in the top of the first when Reese Arakaki scored on an infield single from Logan Peters. After the first, however, the NPU offense would be stymied to only get three more hits in the remainder of the contest. Arakaki with two total on the day, and Peters, Bobby Bartlett, and Alex DiVito with one each in the game.

Ethan Sund, per usual, was a force on the mound, eating up a total of eight innings on the mound and allowing just one earned run on seven hits, and 10 strikeouts to just one walk. That lone earned run came to be the difference as a solo homerun by Augie in the top of the fifth broke a 1-1 tie in a game that would be won by the score of 2-1 to Augustana.

Final: Augustana 2, North Park 1

A rematch with No. 15 North Central awaited North Park in an elimination game on Friday evening, and there was much more offense to be had in this affair. NCC grabbed a 1-0 lead early, but it was a single by DiVito in the second that vaulted the Vikings in front, scoring Jim Zay and Brad Maurer, before a sac fly by Bobby Bartlett made it 3-1 NPU. Five by NCC in the fourth made it 6-3 to the visitors, but an RBI single by Peters drew North Park within two at the seventh inning stretch. The Cardinals poured on four in the bottom half of the inning, though, and NPU was back to being down by a lot, this time by a score of 10-4.

A comeback bid would start in the eighth for the never-say-die Vikings as they scored a run each thanks to freshman on a triple by Arakaki, and then a double by DiVito. Then, up stepped the sophomore Justin Swanson who hammered a ball over the left field fence that brought home himself and Divito to cut the deficit to two. After Julian Ledezma sent down the Cardinals 1-2-3 in the bottom of the inning, the Vikings would have one last chance in the ninth. Nathan Sommerfeld would score on a groundout, and a pinch hit single from Richie Silva would put the possible tying run on base for NPU with two outs. Unfortunately, a line out to the pitcher would end the ballgame and the season for the Vikings.

Final: North Central 10, North Park 9