By Steve Marovich, Athletics Staff Writer/2022 Baseball Contact
The Carthage College baseball team (3-7) lost its third-straight game on Monday, March 14, falling to Macalester College (1-3), 15-5 in eight innings, at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz.
Matt Mukai's RBI single in the second inning gave Macalester an early, 1-0 lead. The Scots added three runs in the third on an RBI-triple by Michael Moreno, an RBI-single by Matt Odom, scoring Moreno and a Mukai RBI-single, scoring Odom.
Carthage halved the lead to 4-2 in the top of the fourth on a two-run double by Cody Tostrud. A Moreno RBI-single in the bottom half gave the Scots a 5-2 edge.
The two teams traded runs in the fifth inning. Chase Gibson's RBI-double cut the lead to 5-3, but Caidan Moore's run-scoring single in the bottom half made it 6-3. Carthage starting pitcher Nick Hamilton (0-2) worked the first four and two-thirds innings and took the loss by surrendering the first six runs on nine hits and no walks, while striking out eight batters. Hamilton gave way to Troy Siranovic with two outs in the fifth.
Macalester scored twice in the sixth to make it an 8-3 contest. Hayes Waddell singled in the first run in the inning, and Mukai doubled him home.
Carthage's Bryce Prybylinski hit a two-run home run in the seventh to bring the Firebirds to within three, 8-5, but the Scots came right back with four runs in the bottom half to make it 12-5. Lian Lincoln hit a two-run single in the inning, followed by an RBI-single by Odom and an RBI-double by Leonardo Bucello. Nathan Schnabel replaced Siranovic and got two quick outs before walking Mukai to load the bases and then walking Anthony Palma to force in a run, making it 13-5.
Bowman Wingard hit a two-run double for the Scots in the eighth to close out the scoring at 15-5 and ending the game on a 10-run rule.
Macalester pounded the three Carthage pitchers for 20 hits, with Troy Siranovic giving up 10 hits and seven runs in an inning and two-thirds. Matt Mukai went four-for-four with three RBI, and Lian Lincoln went three-for-five with two runs scored and two RBI. Cody Tostrud, Colton Klein, Brcye Prybylinski and Evan Devine each collected two hits for the Firebirds.
Macalester pitcher Thomas Windels started the game and worked the first four innings, but the win went to Ben Levinson (1-0) who worked the final four frames. Levinson allowed three runs on six hits, a walk and five strikeouts.
"I was disappointed with the pitching today," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV. "Both Nick Hamilton and Troy Siranovic had pitched well before today. The infields are really hard out here, so every ground ball has a good chance to get through, and a lot of them did. We've used up a lot of pitching over the first three days, so we may be on fumes tomorrow against Edgewood."
Carthage takes on Edgewood College on Tuesday in a Noon, CDT contest, also at the Kino Sports Complex.