The Carthage College baseball team (1-1, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin), ranked No. 29 in the March 8 "d3baseball.com" poll, wrapped up a two-game home series with Benedictine University (Ill., 1-1) on Saturday, March 12 with a 4-1 win over the Eagles at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis. Benedictine defeated Carthage, 6-4, on Friday, March 11, also at Augie Schmidt Field.
In Saturday's game, Carthage's Drew Korosic led off the first inning with a stand-up triple and scored on an RBI-single by Jared Helmich. The Red Men loaded the bases, and RBI-grounders by Zach Wade and Jared Knoespel followed for two runs. Matt Rave delivered an RBI-double, and Carthage led, 4-0. Benedictine got a run back in the fourth to make it 4-1, and that was all the scoring.
Jared Helmich (Sr., Lake Villa, Ill./Fox Lake-Grant Community, 1-0) was the winning pitcher for the Red Men. Helmich limited Benedictine to one run on six hits and two walks over five innings. College of Lake County-transfer Chris DeRue (Jr., Lake Villa, Ill./Lakes Community) blanked the Eagles on a hit and walk over the final four innings to earn the save. Alex Wolfe (0-1) took the loss and surrendered all four runs on five hits and three walks over three and one-third innings. Helmich and Reed Hero (Jr., Frankfort, Ill./Lincoln-Way North) each went two-for-four for Carthage.
"We got some great pitching today," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "and we played good defense with no errors. Jared Helmich didn't have great stuff today, but he battled. I was real impressed with Chris DeRue—he pitched great. We got four runs early, so I guess it doesn't matter when you score them. We hit some other balls hard at people—we just didn't get much to show for it. By splitting up the pitching these two games, we got a chance to work all of our top-four starters. Starting next weekend in Arizona, we'll go back to a more-traditional rotation and watch the pitch counts. I thought the pitching for the first two games was really good."
Carthage opens an 11-game spring trip to the Tucson Invitational at the Kino Sports Park in Tucson, Ariz., on March 18 with a doubleheader against Hamline University, beginning at Noon (all times MST). On Saturday, March 19, the Red Men play Luther College at 10 a.m., followed by Buena Vista University on Monday, March 21 at 11 a.m. and Colby College on Wednesday, March 23 at 11 a.m. On Thursday, March 24, Carthage plays a split doubleheader with Buena Vista at 1:30 p.m. and Bethel University (Minn.) at 5 p.m., followed by Carleton College on Friday, March 25 at 10 a.m., Gustavus Adolphus College on Saturday, March 26 at Noon and Middlebury College on Easter Sunday, March 27 at 1 p.m.