NAPERVILLE, Ill. -- A bases-loaded double with one out in the bottom of the ninth scored three runs to give North Central an 11-10 win over Illinois Wesleyan in the opening game of the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin baseball tournament on Thursday, May 11, at Zimmerman Stadium in Naperville, Ill.
 
The No. 4-seed Illinois Wesleyan lost for the seventh straight time, is now 20-19 overall and will play at 9:30 a.m. Friday against the loser of the tournament semifinal game between No. 2 Augustana and No. 3 Wheaton. No. 1-seed North Central improved to 22-15.
 
The Titans got on the board with three first inning runs. Freshman centerfielder Nick Figus was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, went to third on a John Bosco single and score on a sacrifice fly by senior catcher Pat Mollo. With two out, junior second baseman Gino Cavalieri homered to right to put IWU ahead 3-0.
 
With the game tied at 3-3, IWU scored two in the fourth, sophomore designated hitter Jonathan Broadbear led off with a walk and sophomore rightfielder Jacob Houghton singled. Junior third baseman Jake Stewart delivered an RBI single to left-center and Houghton came in to score an unearned run on an error to give the Titans a 5-3 edge.
 
North Central took an 8-5 lead with a four-run fourth and one more in the fifth before IWU went ahead with a four-run sixth inning, scoring on hits by Mollo, senior shortstop Jarrod Juskiewicz and a two-run single by Broadbear.
 
Sophomore Nick Brune, the third of four IWU pitchers, took the loss. Seniors Sean Coonan and Brian Henry went 3 1/3 and 3 2/3 innings, respectively. Matt Banaitis relieved in the ninth and threw one pitch that provided the Cardinals wuth the bases-clearing double.
 
North Central rapped out 16 hits while IWU had 13 and both clubs had three extra base hits.