The Carthage College baseball team (4-5, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) outlasted Buena Vista University (4-3), 10-9 in 10 innings on Sunday, March 24 at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz. 

Carthage jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI-single by Mike Merritt, an RBI-double by Marc Mantucca and run-scoring single by Brian Huntsinger.  After the Beavers got two runs back in the bottom of the inning, the Red Men went up, 5-2, in the third.  The first run of the inning scored on an RBI-single by Merritt, and Kyle Pusateri later scored on a front end of double play.  Carthage added four more runs in the sixth to take a 9-2 lead.  Pusateri singled in the first run of the inning.  Merritt drove home two more, and Huntsinger singled home the fourth run.

Then things went haywire, as the Beavers came up with a six-run seventh inning to turn it into a 9-8 game.  A throwing error by Carthage shortstop Drew Bailey on a play that could have been an inning-ending double play opened the floodgates.  Two runs scored on the play, and two plays later, two more runs scored on a throwing error by first baseman Marc Mantucca on an attempted three-six-three double play.  Jesse Munsterman tripled in the last two runs of the inning.

There was more bad news for the Red Men in the ninth.  With one out, closer Mitch Lochen put two runners on base with a walk and hit batter before pinch-hitter Neil Eddie delivered a game-tying RBI-single.  In the bottom of the 10th, Chris Tydd walked, and Kyle Pusateri singled him to second.  The next batter, Marc Mantucca, hit a grounder to Beaver shortstop Ryan Titman.  Titman chose to make a play at the plate, but his throw was up the line, and Tydd scored the go-ahead run.  Lochen avoided trouble in the bottom of the inning, and Carthage escaped with a 10-9 victory.

Mitch Lochen (Sr., Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South, 2-1) picked up the win.  Lochen entered the game with one out in that disastrous seventh frame and limited Buena Vista to one run on three hits and a walk over the final three and two-thirds innings.  Raymond Wojciechowski (Fr., Spring Grove, Ill./Richmond-Burton) started the game and allowed just two runs on four hits and four walks over the first five innings.  Brennan Holm (0-1), the second-of-two Beaver hurlers, took the loss.

Mike Merritt (Jr., Racine, Wis./Lutheran) went four-for-five with four RBI to lead Carthage's 17-hit attack.  Kyle Pusateri (Sr., Schaumburg, Ill.) went four-for-six with three runs scored and an RBI and Brian Huntsinger (Jr., Glendale, Wis./Milwaukee-Nicolet)three-for-five with two RBI.

"We were flowing along against a really good team," said Coach Augie Schmidt IV, "We were hitting the ball, we had a freshman pitcher out there battling, and everything was going well.   All of the sudden, we make a mistake, which leads to another mistake, which leads to a walk, which leads to another walk, and we let them back in the game.  I was having flashbacks of the loss to Buena Vista in the 2011 NCAA regional in Bloomington, Ill., where we lost a big lead.  We did show some character in coming back to win, and I think we might be a good team.  The mistakes we made can all be fixed.  We really hit the ball against a good pitcher, and that part was good.  I know we can be pain on anybody's pitching staff.  The question is if we can pitch well enough and play the game well enough.  It was an exciting game." 

The Red Men play a split doubleheader on Monday, March 25, taking on Oberlin College at 12:30 p.m. (all times MST) and Williams College at 4 p.m..