BLOOMINGTON, Ill. – The North Park baseball team remains in control of their own destiny after a doubleheader sweep over Illinois Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon. Both triumphs came from the slimmest of margins as the Vikings needed an extra-innings Ranko Stevanovic homer to win the first game 7-6 (11 innings), and a clutch Richie Silva RBI-double when NPU was down their last out to win the second game 4-3.
North Park came out of the gates firing in the first game, scoring three in the first inning, two off the bat of Justin Swanson and one more from Garrett Bragg. A pair of doubles by Jim Zay and Brad Maurer in the sixth tacked one some more as each scored one and North Park led 5-0 heading into the seventh.
After Ethan Sund threw the first six innings without allowing a run, the Titans finally got to him in the seventh. IWU poured in six runs, all going against Sund, to take the lead going into the final innings. Tyler Banks would come on in relief to pitching three innings of relief scoreless, while Frank Kalemba picked up the win throwing the final 1.1 innings without allowing a run.
The drama came in a head in the ninth when North Park needed a run to keep the game alive. After Reece Arakaki led off the inning with a walk, Bobby Bartlett got him into scoring position with a sac bunt. Arakaki moved up to third on a wild pitch, while Swanson also drew a walk. After Swanson grabbed a crucial steal of second to erase a chance of a double play, Stevanovic grounded out to second to score Arakaki and tie the game.
The squads deadlocked into the 11th before Stevanovic was again the hero, this time bombing a moonshot to the scoreboard in left center field. Wesleyan was able to get the tying run to third in bottom of the frame, but a 6-3 double play finished the contest with a Viking victory.
Final: North Park 7, Illinois Wesleyan 6
The second game was again a pitcher's duel for most of the contest as North Park's only runs before the ninth both came off the bat of Logan Peters via an RBI single in the fifth and an RBI double in the seventh. Despite a solid six innings from Bartlett and three innings of scoreless relief for Brett Brueske, North Park again went into the ninth down one.
Again, the inning would start with an Arakaki walk, a sac bunt, and a Swanson walk. This time, however, Stevanovic would come up empty on his trip to the plate. That left pinch-hitting specialist Richie Silva with the biggest at-bat of his career with two on and two outs in the top of the ninth. Well clutch is Silva's middle name, and the senior belted a double into center field that allowed both Arakaki and Swanson to score. Stevanovic still came up clutch for the Vikings as he threw out a Titan at second to finish the game and keep CCIW tournament hopes alive for NPU.
Final: North Park 4, Illinois Wesleyan 3
What's Next?
North Park (14-22, 7-10 CCIW) will play Wheaton (17-18, 10-7 CCIW) on Monday, May 9th at Lee Pfund Stadium. That game will start at 3 PM. With a win the Vikings are in the CCIW tourney. They can also get in with an IWU loss to North Central on Monday.
