RIVER FOREST, Ill. -- The Vikings baseball team traveled to River Forest for a matchup with the Concordia Chicago Cougars on Tuesday afternoon, ultimately taking defeat at a score of 4-11. North Park moves to 8-18 overall with the loss, maintaining a 2-4 record in conference play.  

After a pair of scoreless frames to start the ballgame, the Vikings struck first in the 3rdinning to take a 2-0 lead over the Cougars. Alex DiVito singled to mark the first baserunner of the game for either side, moving up to third base on a double from Garrett Bragg. With runners now in scoring position, Carson Blatchford came through with a base hit to get NPU on the board. Reece Arakaki then bunted Bragg home for the Vikings' second run.  

An inning later, Justin Swanson led off with a shot to right field for his 6th home run of the season to give North Park a 3-0 lead.  

That score held up through the top of the 5th, but from then on out, the game belonged to Concordia. The Cougars took the lead after scoring 4 runs in the bottom half of the inning, and they followed that up with 7 runs in the 6th to go up 3-11. The potent CUC offense finished the game with 14 hits total with 9 going for extra bases. North Park managed to score one more run in the 9thinning before the score went final.  

With the 2-for-4 day that included a HR, reigning DIII Team of the Week second baseman Justin Swanson extends his hitting streak to 6 games and improves his slash line to .398/.555/.693 on the season. Garrett Bragg also went 2-4 as the only other Viking to record a multi-hit game. He and Ethan Raspolich both marked doubles to make it a total of 3 XBH on the day for NPU.  

What's Next? 

The Vikings return to CCIW play tomorrow afternoon when they head to Naperville to take on the North Central Cardinals (13-9, 2-5 CCIW). First pitch is set for 3:00 P.M. at Zimmerman Stadium.