CHICAGO, Ill. – North Park baseball hosted a pair of February home games on Sunday against UW-Oshkosh, dropping both games 4-1 and 6-5.
The Titans tallied the first run of the day on an RBI single off the bat of Connor Giusti in the second inning before solo shots by Jake Surane and Mason Kirchberg in the third and sixth innings extended the visitor's lead. Another RBI sac fly by Giusti in the eighth inning put Oshkosh up by four runs.
North Park's lone run was driven in by Cole Fiorenza in the ninth inning, plating Nathan Sommerfeld, as the Vikings lost the home opener, 4-1.
Game two was a better showing for the Vikings. Rylan Kawakami reached base on an infield error to start the second inning before he and Alex DiVito moved up on a sac bunt. Following suit, Garrett Bragg dropped down a perfectly-placed bunt up the third base line to load the bases for Fiorenza. Fiorenza drove an RBI grounder that was stopped in the infield to put NPU up, 1-0.
Unfortunately, a two-run Matt Scherrman homer put the Titans ahead in their next trip to the plate before they tacked on one run each in the fourth and fifth innings.
The Vikings battled back thanks to RBI singles from Kawakami and Justin Swanson in the fifth and sixth innings, forcing a one-run game. However, once more, the Titans manufactured run-scoring innings in the seventh and eighth.
A clutch, two-out, two-run double lined into right-center field by Bobby Bartlett nearly completed a late-game comeback, but the Vikings fell just short in a 6-5 defeat.
What's Next?
North Park (0-5) heads to Sauget, Ill. for three weekend games at GCS Ballpark. The Vikings will face Benedictine on Saturday, March 4, before a pair of games against Hanover and UW-Oshkosh on March 5.
