Box Score

OSHKOSH, Wis. - The Benedictine University baseball team opened the Northern Athletics Conference Tournament with a 10-3 victory over fifth-seeded Edgewood on Thursday afternoon at UW-Oshkosh.

Benedictine opened the scoring with a run in the second inning against Edgewood starter Trevoe Koehn. Nick Karakosta opened the inning by reaching on an error. With one out Steve Cocat singled and Tim Hendricks followed suit with a single to load the bases. Dan Zust put the Eagles in front with an RBI groundout.

Five runs in the third inning opened up the contest. Walks to Ryan Mullin and Tom Higgins put twp pn for Karakosta, who doubled to right-center, extending the lead to 2-0. Tim Gindville followed with a three-run homer to right. Cocat doubled and Uli Ortiz capped the inning with an RBI single up the middle.

Edgewood pulled within 6-1 with a run in the top of the fifth. Benedictine loaded the bases in the bottom of the fifth without the advantage of a hit but came up a run on a sacrifice fly off the bat of Higgins.

After Edgewood scored a run in the seventh, Benedictine put the game out of reach with three runs in the bottom of the frame. Karakosta tripled home a pair and Gindville made it 10-2 on an RBI single. Edgewood's final run came in the eighth.

Mark Belcastro tossed eight innings to improve to 9-0 in 10 starts on the season. Belcastro allowed three runs while walking three and striking out seven. The Eagles totaled 14 hits in the win. Karakosta finished with three hits while Ortiz, John Cervantes, Gindville, Cocat, and Hendricks posted two apiece. Gindville drove home four runs while Karakosta plated three.

The second-seeded Eagles (27-14) will meet the third seed, Concordia University Chicago, at 1:00 p.m. on Friday at Marian.