The Carthage College baseball team (15-14, 6-9 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) defeated non-conference opponent and No. 23 Aurora University (25-8), 8-2, on Tuesday, April 24 at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha, Wis.
Carthage scored in the first inning. Tyler Eickmeyer singled, went to second on the same play when the Aurora leftfielder bobbled the ball, advanced to third on a grounder and scored on a pop fly to deep shortstop. The Red Men scored five in the second. Tanner Wensman started the rally with an RBI-single. Eickmeyer followed with a three-run triple, and Zach Kozlowski scored Eickmeyer with a single. The Spartans got two runs back in the seventh on a two-run double by Ryan Adams, and Joey Aiello's two-run double in the seventh gave Carthage an 8-2 lead and closed out the scoring.
Pitcher Alex Newberry (Jr., Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) improved to 2-1 by limiting Aurora to two runs on seven hits and three walks, while striking out six batters. Jake Jewell (Fr., Muskego, Wis.) entered the game in the seventh with two runners on and blanked the Spartans the rest of the way on one hit and a walk to earn his third save. Kevin Day (3-2), the first-of-four Aurora hurlers took the loss. Carthage's Zach Kozlowski (Sr., Menomonee Falls, Wis./Sussex-Hamilton) went three-for-five with an RBI, and Tyler Eickmeyer (Sr., Kenosha, Wis./Somers-Shoreland Lutheran) had two hits in five trips with two runs scored and three RBI.
"The CCIW standings look like a six-team race that does not include us," admitted Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV. "It would be tough for us to qualify for the tournament at this point, but we're going to play it out and see what happens. We're at the point now where we're just trying to play some decent baseball and maybe re-learn what it takes to win. Today helped. We played a solid game, we got good pitching and we hit the ball some. Aurora has a good club, so this was a nice win for us. The CCIW race looks like tough sledding for us, so all we can do is win every game and hope something crazy happens. We've been pretty lucky for a long time in that we've never had to worry about not being in the conference tournament. That said, taking a beating this year has energized us and made us work harder. When you win all the time, you start to take it for granted. When it stops, it hurts, and you have to re-think what you're doing and re-load. That's kind of where we're at right now."
Carthage travels to Howards Grove, Wis., on Wednesday, April 25 for a 3 p.m. game at Muskie Field. On Thursday, April 26, the Red Men will play host to Concordia University (Chicago) in a 5 p.m. game at the Carthage Baseball Field, a game was that was rained out on April 19.