The Carthage College baseball team (21-8, 13-5 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 22nd in the April 26 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association /"D3baseball.com" poll and second in the April 28 NCAA Division III Central Region poll, completed a three-game sweep of CCIW-opponent Millikin University (5-28, 1-16 CCIW) on Sunday, May 1 with a 12-2 win over the Big Blue at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha, Wis.
The Red Men won both ends of a Saturday, April 30 doubleheader, 12-2 and 14-2. With Augustana College (Ill.) upending first-place North Central College, 12-6, on Sunday in Moline, Ill., Carthage heads into the final weekend tied for first place with North Central (Ill.). Should the Red Men and the Cardinals remain tied after the final weekend, Carthage would play host to the CCIW Baseball Tournament based on winning two-of-three from North Central on April 9-10.
Carthage took a 4-0 lead in the first inning, as Will Hodges continued to plague Millikin pitching with an RBI-double, and Josh Albers followed with a two-run triple. Albers then scored on an infield grounder. Joey Aiello drove in a run in the second with an infield grounder, and Mike Petti scored on a wild pitch, giving the Red Men a 6-0 lead. Carthage made it 8-0 in the fourth on a two-run double by Billy Herrin.
Millikin got on the scoreboard with two runs in the fifth, both scoring on wild pitches from Red Men starting pitcher Eric Rohe. In the Carthage seventh, with two outs, Petti flared a double down the leftfield line. Aiello and Hodges walked to load the bases. Petti scored on a wild pitch from Millikin reliever Nick Kennedy, and Albers followed with an infield pop that fell between Kennedy and Millikin third baseman Kevin Campbell for a single, allowing Aiello to score for a 12-2 margin. All three of the Millikin games were stopped in the seventh inning on a 10-run rule.
Eric Rohe (Jr., Mundelein, Ill., 5-1) worked the first six innings and allowed two runs on six hits and a walk. Michael Sanchez mopped up in the seventh. Mike Petti (Sr., Mundelein, Ill.) went four-for-five with three runs scored, two doubles and an RBI. Josh Albers (Sr., Green Oaks, Ill./Libertyville) went three-for-five with a double, a triple and three RBI, while Billy Herrin (Sr., Galesburg, Ill.) had two hits in four trips with two doubles and two RBI. John Steele (0-3), the Millikin starting pitcher, took the loss.
Carthage has re-scheduled a non-conference doubleheader with Marian University (Wis.) for Monday, May 2 at the Carthage Baseball Field, beginning at 2 p.m. The twinbill, originally scheduled for April 26, was postponed due to makeup Northern Athletics Conference games. The Red Men travel to West Bend, Wis., on Wednesday, May 4 to play Concordia University (Wis.) in a 3 p.m. game at Carl M. Kuss Field/Regner Park. On Thursday, May 5, Carthage plays host to Lakeland College in a 3 p.m. twinbill that was postponed on April 20.
Next weekend's North Park University series gets underway with a Noon doubleheader on Saturday, May 7 in Kenosha, Wis., followed by a single game on Sunday, May 8 at the Holmgren Athletic Complex in Chicago, beginning at 1 p.m.
"Millikin has a lot of young kids, and they're having a down year," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV. "We beat them up a little bit, and we're just trying to get better. Will Hodges had a great weekend. He's such a great athlete. When he gets on a roll like he is now, it's fun to watch him play. We haven't been able to get on a roll, because the weather. This week, we've got five non-conference games before we play North Park on the weekend. The conference race has gotten really interesting, and it looks like it's going down to the wire. It's going to boil down to a big series with North Park. They're playing as good as anyone, and some of the league coaches think they might be the best team. They have a bunch of seniors on the field and some very good transfer pitchers. It might be a winner-take-all situation with them, and that would be a lot of fun."