Kenosha, Wis. – The Wheaton baseball team (15-11/5-7 CCIW) earned a split of a CCIW doubleheader at Carthage College on Saturday. Carthage won the opener 5-2, despite Wheaton taking an early 2-0 lead. The second game saw Thunder starting pitcher Trey Martin (3-2) throw his second consecutive complete game shutout as Wheaton earned a 5-0 victory.
Game two of the doubleheader was led by Martin's effort on the the mound as he struck out seven while allowing five hits and three walks. The senior is now 3-2 on the year, and including today's effort he has recorded two consecutive complete-game shutouts. Martin has now held opponents scoreless in his last 20 innings of action, dating back March 29.
Wheaton scored five runs, with seven hits and no errors in the win and Carthage was scoreless, with five hits and no errors.
Carthage put runners on first and third with one out in the first inning of the nightcap, but Martin got a strikeout and a ground out to end the threat. The game remained scoreless until the top of the sixth inning, when Martin helped his own cause when he hit a two-out solo home run to left field to give Wheaton a 1-0 lead.
The Red Men threatened again in the bottom of the seventh, putting runners on first and second with no outs, but again Martin came through as he struck out Matt Cmiel and Marc Mantucca was thrown out trying to steal third on the play. Mike Pugliese flied out to end the inning and stall the Carthage rally.
The Thunder added a run in the top of the eighth as Martin knocked in sophomore Josh Kimmel with a sacrifice fly to make it a 2-0 advantage for the guests. An RBI-double by freshman Johnny Peltz (PICTURED LEFT) and a two-run single by Matt Krause in the ninth inning gave Wheaton key insurance runs and setup the complete game shutout for Martin
Marc Mantucca (1-2) pitched seven innings and Jeremy Salzman closed out the last two innings for Carthage.
In the opener, Wheaton sophomore Michael Kaufman (0-1) started and took the loss. allowing five hits and five runs, including three earned runs, over six innings. Kaufman also struck out two batters with two walks. Freshman John Schmitz had one strikeout and allowed two hits in two scoreless innings of relief for the Thunder. Carthage scored five runs, on seven hits, with one error and Wheaton tallied two runs, on 11 hits, with two errors.
The game opened in the top of the first inning as center fielder Josh Kimmel hit a single and he eventually scored on a Trey Martin single through the middle of the infield. Martin scored on a single by John Jensen-Johnson's single, giving the Thunder a 2-0 lead.
Carthage center fielder Brian Huntsinger led off the second inning for the Red Men with a double and then advanced to third and scored on a pair of ground outs making it a 2-1 game. Carthage then took a 3-2 lead on a two-run double by shortstop Drew Bailey in the bottom of the third. The Red Men added two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning after a walk, a hit batter and an error set the stage for infielder Matt Richer's two-run single to give the Red Men a 2-5 lead.
Carthage pitcher Josh Daniels (2-1) worked eight innings to earn the victory for the hosts, and Sam Wilhelms worked a scoreless ninth inning for his sixth save of the season.
Wheaton is next in action on April 15, when it will host Concordia University-Chicago in a non-conference game at 6 p.m. at Lee Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream.