FORT PIERCE, FL – The North Central University (NCU) baseball team kicked off their spring break trip on Monday afternoon against the Immaculata University (IU) Mighty Macs in a non-conference, neutral-site matchup. In a contest that saw the Rams hold the lead for the first eight innings, the Mighty Macs managed a six-run comeback in the top of the ninth inning to come away with the victory by a final score of 11-13.
Game Recap
After a three-up, three-down top half of the first inning from senior
Blazsen Ferreira (Mililani, HI, Waipahu High School), the Rams managed to draw first blood with the bats. In the bottom of the first inning, sophomore-transfer
Rene Brockman (Tuscon, AZ, Desert View High School) put NCU up on the board 1-0 with a shot that cleared the left-center field wall. Over the next three innings, freshman pitchers
Justin Krull (Nichols, WI, Seymour High School) and
Jack Parker (Bordentown, NJ, Bordentown Regional High School) came in relief and both provided the Rams with solid outings. The dynamic pitching duo combined for only two hits and one earned run given up over 18 batters faced in the process. As the Rams started to find their groove on the mound, the offense followed closely behind. In the second and fourth innings, NCU did most of their damage at the plate and managed to put seven total runs across and find themselves up 8-1 over IU.
The offensive surges were fueled by two RBI doubles from
Cole Sneed (Scottsdale, AZ, Saguaro High School) and
Chris Harding (Carol Stream, IL, West Chicago High School), and three combined RBI singles from
Krull and
Kyle Huerth (Moorpark, CA, Moorpark High School). In the latter half of the game, the Mighty Macs started to slowly chip away at the Rams' lead. North Central entered the top of the ninth three outs away from taking the win, but Immaculata would not go down easy. The Mighty Macs provided themselves with their own greatest offensive showing of the game at just the right time. IU put together a six-run inning off three hits that gave them the lead for the first time of the contest. The stringing together of hits provided the Mighty Macs with the necessary run support to ultimately come away with the win in the ninth-inning battle. Even with the heartbreaking loss in the afternoon, NCU baseball showed their massive potential as a group in their ability to compete with the best that NCAA DIII baseball has to offer this season.
Key Performer(s)
Looking Ahead
NCU baseball has now fallen to an 0-2 overall record on the 2020 season, and will look to bounce back after the tough loss to IU. The Rams are back at it tomorrow morning in a quick turnaround where they are set to clash with the Penn State University - Behrend (PSB) Lions at 10:00am CT. Fans can stay as up to date as possible of Rams baseball with live stats coverage provided
here.
