The Carthage College baseball team (24-8, 13-5 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 20th in the May 2 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association /"D3baseball.com" poll and second in the April 28 NCAA Division III Central Region poll, defeated non-conference opponent Concordia University (Wis., 14-18), 9-7, on Tuesday, May 3 at Keip Field in Mequon, Wis.
Carthage fell behind, 4-0, after three innings, as starting pitcher Andy Pucher (Jr., Naperville, Ill./Central) struggled. The Red Men scored twice in the third inning and four times in the fifth to take 6-4 lead. Both of the runs in the third came as a result of Falcon errors. In the fifth, Mike Petti drove in the first run with an infield grounder. Joey Aiello singled in the second run, John Hasser drove in the third with a sacrifice fly, with a second run scoring on the play on an error in the outfield.
Concordia pulled to within a run, 6-5, in the seventh on an RBI-triple by Derrick Pankow. The inning started with Daniel Mueller singling to right. Carthage rightfielder Mike Petti (Sr., Mundelein, Ill.) was injured diving for the ball and left the game. Petti, who leads the Red Men with a .418 batting average, was taken to the hospital on Tuesday night with a possible broken forearm.
Carthage went up, 9-5, with three runs in the top of the ninth. Kyle Frye singled in the4 first run. Zach Kozlowski was walked with the bases loaded to force in the second run, and Matt Soderlund also received a bases-loaded free pass for the third run. The Falcons made things interesting in the bottom of the ninth, scoring twice and having the tying run at the plate, before reliever Sam Wilhelms pinch-hitter Mark Schonenberg to fly to right the end the game.
Luke Watson (Fr., Appleton, Wis./Xavier, 2-0) was the winning pitcher. Watson worked the middle four innings and allowed just one run on four hits. Sam Wilhelms (Fr., Fond du Lac, Wis.) earned his third save, despite giving up two runs on four hits over the final two innings. Joey Aiello (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.) went three-for-five with an RBI, and Will Hodges (Sr., Oak Park, Ill./Naperville-North) upped his average to .383 with three hits in four trips.
On Thursday, May 5, Carthage plays host to Lakeland College (14-18) in a 3 p.m. twinbill that was postponed on April 20. Next weekend's series with CCIW-opponent and No. 26 North Park University gets underway with a Noon doubleheader on Saturday, May 7 in Kenosha, Wis., followed by a single game on Sunday, May 8 at the Holmgren Athletic Complex in Chicago, beginning at 1 p.m.