The Carthage College baseball team (5-3, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 47th in the March 15 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association /"D3baseball.com" poll, upended Utica College (0-5), 12-2, on Wednesday, March 16 at the "Snow Bird Baseball Classic" at North County Regional Park in North Port, Fla.

Utica's Anthony Di Salvo led off the game with a double off Carthage starting pitcher Tyler Johansen and wound up scoring on an infield grounder for a quick, 1-0 lead.  Carthage scored 10 runs on nine hits in the second inning and sent 15 batters to the plate.  Zach Kozlowski led off with a double.  Matt Soderlund followed with a bunt single, and Josh Albers hit a rocket that hit Utica pitcher Matt Zitt for an RBI-single to score Kozlowski.  After a Kyle Pusateri sacrifice bunt, Billy Herrin hit a single up the middle to score both runner for a 3-1 Carthage lead. 

Chris D'Angelo doubled Herrin to third, and Herrin scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-1.  John Hasser doubled to left, scoring D'Angelo for a 5-1 lead.  Kozlowski singled in Hasser, and the lead went to 6-1.  The Red Men proceeded to load the bases, and Mike Petti scored on a wild pitch for a 7-1 margin.  Josh Albers singled in two runs, and the lead went to 9-1.  Kyle Pusateri singled in Albers, and it was 10-1.  In the third, Will Hodges singled in a run to make it 11-1.  The Pioneers got a run back in the fifth, and D'Angelo hit an RBI-single in the eighth to close out the scoring at 12-2.

Tyler Johansen (Fr., Bloomington, Ill./Central Catholic, 2-0) was the winning pitcher.  Johansen went six innings and allowed two runs on four hits and no walks.  Andrew Arenson (Fr., Naperville, Ill./North) struck out seven of the 10 batters he faced over the final three innings to earn his first save.  The Red Men collected 16 hits on five Pioneer pitchers.  Josh Albers (Sr., Green Oaks, Ill./Libertyville) went three-for-five with two runs scored and three RBI.  Chris D'Angelo, John Hasser, Mike Petti, Zach Kozlowski and Kyle Pusateri had two hits each.  Matt Zitt (0-1), thee Utica starter, took the loss.

"Utica is the kind of team we often lay an egg against" said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV.  "They're a really young team playing a great schedule, and they're getting beat up a little down here.  They swung the bats pretty good and put up a fight.  Tyler Johansen pitched pretty good, and I think he can do even better.  What Andrew Arenson did out of the bullpen is really exciting, because we know he has that in him.  He really cut it loose today.  We threw him into the Rhodes College game on Sunday, and he was nervous in a tie-game situation.  He and Tyler Johansen have futures for us.  We hit the ball and played decent defense, and everything is real positive right now."

Following an off-day on March 17, Carthage plays Otterbein University in a Friday, March 18 doubleheader at North County Regional Park beginning at Noon, EDT.  The trip concludes with a single game versus No. 34 Wisconsin-Oshkosh on Saturday, March 19 at 10 a.m. EDT, also at North County Regional Park.