By Steve Marovich, Part-Time Assistant to the Carthage Director of Athletic Communications

After winning two-straight games to open its spring trip to Arizona, the Carthage College baseball team (2-2) lost its second in a row on Monday night, falling to Aurora University (3-0), 9-3, at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson.  The Spartans received a single vote in the "D3Baseball" poll.  Earlier in the day, the Red Men lost to Wabash College by an 11-6 margin.

Aurora laid a six spot on Carthage starting pitcher Nate Odahl in the fourth inning.  Jeffrey Mays started the scoring with a two-run single.  Austin Wiskow followed with a two-run double, and Davis Purviance singled up the middle to score two more.  Carthage got a run back in the bottom of the fourth and another in the fifth on an RBI-single by Ryan Kramer to make it 6-2.

Carthage's Odahl (0-1) worked the first five innings and surrendered six runs on five hits, four walks and five strikeouts.  Daniel Mutter took over in the sixth, but the Spartans scored three times off him in the eighth to up their lead to 9-2.  Cole Davis hit a run-scoring, ground-rule double to open the scoring in the eighth, and A.J. Gill followed with a single up the middle to score two more.  Brian Polaski pitched a scoreless ninth inning for the Red Men.

Starter Chris Roycraft (1-0) was the winning pitcher for the Spartans, and he limited Carthage to a pair runs, one earned, on three hits and three walks over six innings, while striking out eight batters.  Michael Fidler worked the final three frames to earn his first save of the year.  Fidler allowed one run on four hits, a walk and four strikeouts.

"Hats off to the Chris Roycraft," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV.  "He can throw the ball.  He's as good of a pitcher as we're going to see all year.  He's 6-9 and throws 93 miles an hour.  We left a lot of guys on base, and Aurora didn't."

Carthage takes on North Central University (0-1) on Tuesday at 3 p.m. MST.