The completely unexpected season came to an end on Sunday. After three frustrating seasons without even qualifying for the CCIW Baseball Tournament, the Carthage College baseball team (30-15) made it all the way to the last day of the NCAA Central Region Championship before being knocked out by No. 24 Webster University (34-13), 5-1, on May 17, at Waterloo Riverfront Stadium in Waterloo, Iowa. Carthage advanced to the championship round by eliminating No. 16 Wartburg College (33-14), 4-1, on Saturday, May 16.
Carthage lost its first-round game at the on Wednesday, May 13, losing a 4-3 heartbreaker to No. 24 Webster University (31-13). In the other two first-round games, top-seeded and No. 8 Wisconsin-Stevens Point (32-12) defeated sixth-seeded Greenville College (22-20), 7-4, with third-seeded and No. 16 Wartburg (32-13) falling to fourth-seeded and No. 38 Anderson University (32-11) by a 4-3 margin.
The second day of the regional on Thursday, May 14 was rained out. When play resumed on Friday, May 15, Carthage eliminated Greenville College (22-21), 10-2. In Friday's second game, Wartburg (33-13) defeated Wisconsin-Stevens Point (32-13), 4-2, with Webster (32-13) edging Anderson (32-12), 4-3, in the late game. On Saturday, May 15, Wisconsin-Stevens Point (33-13) eliminated Anderson (32-13), 7-4, before Webster (34-13) eliminated the Pointers (33-14), 4-2.
In the second inning of the title game, Webster's Kyle Uhrich hit a long fly ball to centerfield. Carthage centerfielder Matt Cmiel crashed into the wall trying to make the catch and had to leave the game. Uhrich reached third on the triple, but Red Men pitcher Kyle Cibrario retired the next three batters in order to end the threat.
Webster broke a scoreless tie in the fourth on a long, three-run homer to left by Dylan Rajkovich. Later in the inning, Carthage failed to turn a double play. The Gorloks proceeded to load the bases and scored two runs on a base-loaded walk to Mike Golich and a bases-loaded single to Alex Bahnick for a 5-0 margin. Carthage scored its lone run in the ninth on an RBI-single by pinch-hitter John Burkiewicz.
C.J. Lee (5-1) was the winning pitcher for Webster and blanked the Red Men on six hits and two walks over seven and one-third innings. Kyle Cibrario (Jr., Libertyville, Ill., 2-1), the first-of-three Carthage pitchers, took the loss and surrendered five runs on five hits over three and two-thirds innings.
"Webster had a big-gun pitcher left," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV. "and he pitched really well. It was one inning and one pitch. Kyle Cibrario left one pitch up in the zone, the guy hit a three-run homer, and it kind of took us out of the game. This season has been fun watching these guys mature. We went to Arizona with 21 new faces, and to be back in a regional final like this is great. How many teams can recover from a walk-off walk to lose their first-round game? These kids are tough, and they showed me a little of that old-time Carthage toughness. They got ornery, and you love that as a coach. We came a long way in a short time. Hats off to Webster. They have a great team, and they'll represent this region well at the national championship. We wanted it to be us, we gave it our best shot, and we don't have a thing to be ashamed of."
Five Carthage players were named to the all-tournament team. Those five were first baseman Reed Hero, second baseman Matt Rave, third baseman Zach Wade, outfielder Graham Wick and pitcher Luke Mentkowski.