Box Score The Aurora University baseball team faced off in a non conference matchup with the Cardinals of North Central College. The Spartans fell to the Cardinals 10-8.

AU fell behind quickly in the bottom of the first inning when Derango of North Central drove the ball to right center scoring Rone who reached on a single earlier in the inning. The Cardinals would grab two more before the inning was over to jump ahead 3-0 at the end of the first.

The Spartans answered with a run in the top of the second when Dillon Popovich doubled to deep center field and then scored when Michael Chervin reached on an error an by the shortstop.

With two outs in the bottom of the second inning, North Central got to AU starting pitcher Josh Kwasny once again. A two-out double was followed with a single to score one for a 4-1 Cardinal lead.

Aurora would get the run back in the top of the third when Adam Lipscomb led off with a single to center field, moved to second on a sacrifice from Daniel Walczak and to third on a single from Nick Turner. Lipscomb was able to score on a Tanner Oymaian groundout.

The Cardinals continued to keep the lead at three with another run in the bottom of the third. A lead-off double came around to score on an error from Lipscomb.

After senior Greg Fox came in to relieve Kwasny and shut down the Cardinals for the first time all day. Aurora would gain some momentum in the top of the fifth when Turner got the lead off walk and Oymaian reached on a base hit bunt. After a Cardinal pitching change, Jared Swain singled up the middle to drive in Turner but Oymaian was thrown out trying to reach third on the play. Dillon Popovich followed with a double to deep right center scoring Swain and closing the cap to 5-4.

In the top of the sixth the Spartans would pull even. With one out, Brandon Graham reached on a single to shortstop, moved to second on a Lipscomb walk and scored from second when Turner reached on an error from the catcher following a strikeout to tie the game 5-5.

North Central would respond with two runs in the sixth inning and three more in the seventh to grab a 10-5 lead..

The Spartans regained some momentum in the top of the eighth when Steven Jaquez pinch hit for Graham and doubled to left field, Lipscomb walked and they both advanced one base on a pass ball. With runners in scoring position Walczak singled to left field scoring Jaquez. Oymaian reached on a fielders choice scoring Walczak and Swain singled up the middle to score Oymaian and bringing the score to 10-8.

The Spartans got a single from Corey Landers in the ninth but could not get anymore runners on and fell to the Cardinals 10-8.

With the loss, the Spartans fall to 10-23 overall and 6-10 in the NACC. Next action for the Spartan baseball team comes on Wednesday, April 23 when they travel to Carthage College. Game time is set for 3:00 p.m. in Kenosha, Wis.