The Carthage College baseball team (12-3, 4-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 16th in the April 5 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association /"D3baseball.com" poll, defeated CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill., 8-12, 0-4 CCIW), 9-5, on Tuesday, April 5 at the Benedictine University (Ill.) Sports Complex in Lisle, Ill.  The win ran Carthage's winning streak to nine games.

Carthage took a 3-0 lead in the second inning on an RBI-single by Matt Soderlund and a two-run triple by Billy Herrin.  Kyle Pusateri singled in a run in the third to up the lead to 4-0.  Wheaton's Drew Golz connected on a two-home run in the bottom of the third to cut the lead to 4-2.  Golz drove in another run with an infield grounder in the fifth, and the Red Men's margin was shaved to 4-3.  Carthage's Matt Soderlund hammered a two-run homer in the sixth, and Mike Petti followed with an RBI-double to give the Red Men a 7-3 lead.  Danny Pyne's RBI-double in the seventh brought the Thunder back to within three runs, 7-4.  Carthage's Joey Aiello hit an RBI-double in the eighth, and Zach Kozlowski followed with a run-scoring single to make it 9-4.  Justin Zeller drove in a run with an infield grounder in the ninth to close out the scoring at 9-5.

Red Men starting pitcher Matt Martinski (So., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove, 1-1) worked the first six innings and allowed three runs on nine hits and no walks.  Luke Watson (Fr., Appleton, Wis./Xavier) worked the seventh and eighth frames, and Michael Sanchez (Sr., Oswego, Ill.) mopped up in the ninth.  Steve Dennison (1-3), the first of three Thunder hurlers, took the loss.  The Red Men collected 14 hits on Wheaton pitching.  Six Carthage players had two hits each:  Mike Petti (Sr., Mundelein, Ill.), Joey Aiello (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.), Zach Kozlowski (Jr., Menomonee Falls, Wis./Sussex-Hamilton), Will Hodges (Sr., Oak Park, Ill./Naperville-North), Kyle Pusateri (Jr., Schaumburg, Ill.) and Matt Soderlund (Sr., Racine, Wis./Washington Park), with Soderlund driving in three runs and Aiello two. 

On Saturday-Sunday, April 9-10, the Red Men take on conference-opponent North Central College in a three-game series.  The two teams play a Saturday, April 9 doubleheader at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha, Wis., beginning at Noon, followed by a Sunday, April 10 game at Zimmerman Stadium/Alumni Field in Naperville, Ill., beginning at 1 p.m.