For Immediate Release
May 11, 2005

Maroons Drop 11-8 Decision at North Central

Naperville, Ill. -- Host North Central College rallied from an 8-0 deficit to defeat the University of Chicago baseball team 11-8 Wednesday at Zimmerman Field.

Chicago (16-17) scored eight times in the first five innings, before North Central (17-20) answered with four runs in the bottom of the fifth.

The score remained 8-4 until the bottom of the seventh when the Cardinals sent 12 batters to the plate and started the seventh inning with seven consecutive hits en route to a seven-run outburst. An single by catcher Zach Ernst plated the eventual winning run.

Senior center fielder Frank Brown (Chicago Heights, Ill./ DeLaSalle) and junior designated hitter Ryan Denton (Worth, Ill./ Marist) each collected three hits, while senior first baseman Justin Garrett (Columbus, Ind./ East) hit his first home run of the season. Garrett and freshman right fielder Mike Serio (Antioch, Ill./ Carmel) each drove in two runs.

One of four Chicago pitchers on the day, sophomore reliever Dan Cozzi (Park Ridge, Ill./ St. Ignatius) took the loss (2-2) after yielding hits to the two batters he faced.

Chicago, which closes out its 2005 campaign at home Saturday, May 14 against Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, finished the season with a 14-10 mark on the road.