The Carthage College baseball team (3-2, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), tied for 41st place in the March 8 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association /"D3baseball.com" poll,  edged Rhodes College (6-11), 3-2, on Sunday, March 13 at South County Regional Park in Punta Gorda, Fla.

With two on and two outs in the second, Rhodes' Kyle Peterson hit a sharp grounder back to the mound that struck Carthage pitcher Andy Pucher in the wrist.  Pucher recovered in time to make a good throw to first base that Joey Aiello dropped for a run-scoring error.  Stewart Martens followed with a bunt single to score a second run.  Pucher tried to throw a warm-up pitch but had to leave the game.  Pucher, scheduled for x-rays at a local hospital on Sunday evening, was replaced by Luke Watson.  The Red Men got both runs back in the fourth on an RBI-single by Zack Kozlowski and a sacrifice fly by Josh Albers.

In the ninth, Carthage's Will Hodges led off by hitting the first pitch for a stand-up triple to right.  Kozlowski followed with an RBI-double, and the Red Men led, 3-2.  Freshman lefty Andrew Arenson replaced Watson to open the bottom of the ninth.  Arenson walked Stewart Martens with one out.  With two outs, Travis Perkis ripped a single over the third-base bag, putting runners on first and third.  Mitch Lochen took over for Arenson.  Perkins stole second, uncontested, but Lochen got Lynden Pindling on an infield grounder to end the game.  Luke Watson (Fr., Appleton, Wis./Xavier, 1-0), making his first collegiate appearance, picked up the win with six and one-third shutout innings, walking none and striking out six batters.  Mitch Lochen (So., Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South) earned his first save.

"Andy Pucher was pitching so well," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV.  "He just got unlucky.  We can't have all good news—that just isn't our way.  But we ran out an 18-year-old  kid in his place who stuck it to them for almost seven innings.  Luke Watson is another amazing freshman pitcher.  Then we brought in freshman Andrew Arenson to start the ninth inning, but we decided to go to Mitch Lochen for the last out, because he's really tough on right-handed hitters.  Offensively, we starting to come to life—Will Hodges blasted a big triple today.  We're a work in progress, but a lot of our pitching questions are getting answered.  Our problem, right now, is that we've played so many innings in three days, we don't have a whole lot of pitching left.  We have Nic Jensen going on Monday against supposedly the best team in the country.  We're facing a lot of adversity for a team whose season is just three days old.  We're learning that, with the new bats, we're going to playing a lot more closer ball games.  It's different."

On Monday, March 14, Carthage plays No. 1 Heidelberg University at Noon, EDT, also at South County Regional Park.  On Tuesday, March 15, Carthage takes on Montclair State University in a 10 a.m., EDT game at North County Regional Park.  On Wednesday, March 16, the Red Men play Utica College in a 2 p.m., EDT game at North County Regional Park.  Following an off-day on March 17, Carthage plays Otterbein University in a Friday, March 18 doubleheader at North County Regional Park.  The trip concludes with a single game versus No. 34 Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday, March 19 at 10 a.m., also at North County Regional Park.