The Carthage College baseball team (10-12, 4-7 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) split a Saturday, April 15 doubleheader with CCIW-opponent and No. 34 Illinois Wesleyan University (18-8, 7-4 CCIW) at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha, Wis. The Red Men lost the first game, 3-2, but came back to take the nightcap by a 10-0 margin in seven innings. The two teams conclude the series with a Noon game on Sunday, April 15.
In the opener, Illinois Wesleyan struck first with a solo home run by A.J. Nathan and a sacrifice fly by Anthony Lopez in the second inning. The Titans went up, 3-0, in the fourth when Bobby Czarnowski singled, went to third on a single by Jon Frericks and scored on a Carthage double play. The Red Men got a run back in the sixth when Joey Aiello and Andrew Arenson walked to open the inning, and Zach Kozlowski singled in Aiello, Carthage had runners on second and third with one out, but Chris D'Angelo struck out swinging and Mike Wasche looking to end the inning.
Kozlowski connected on a two-out solo homer in the eighth to cut the lead to 3-2. Carthage got its leadoff runner on based in the ninth, but an infield grounder, a swinging strikeout by pinch-hitter Eric Barber and a lineout to second by pinch-hitter Michael Merritt ended the inning. Chris Bobo (3-1) was the winning pitcher with relief help from John Frueh in the sixth and Pat Hayn in the ninth. Bobo allowed one run on five hits and four walks over five and two-thirds innings. Hayn got the last out in the ninth to earn his first save. Andrew Arenson (So., Naperville, Ill./North, 1-1) took the loss by allowing three runs on six hits and two walks. Zach Kozlowski (Sr., Menomonee Falls, Wis./Sussex-Hamilton) went three-for-four with a double, a home run and two RBI.
In the second game, a couple of Titans miscues to open the game led to a five-run Carthage first inning. Errors at third base and first base set up an RBI-single by Zach Kozlowski, and Kyle Pusateri followed with a grand slam home run off IWU starting pitcher Matthew Conrad. The Red Men scored three more in the third to go up, 8-0, and chased Conrad (1-2) from the game. Carthage scored their final two runs in the seventh to make it 10-0, and the game ended on a 10-run rule. Kyle Pusateri (Sr., Schaumburg Ill.) went three-for-four with two runs scored and five RBI. Kozlowski went three-for-four with two runs scored and two RBI to complete a six-for-eight afternoon. Pitcher Danny Dahm (Sr., Morton Grove, Ill./Skokie-Niles West, 2-2) went the distance in the seven-inning game and blanked the Titans on six hits and two walks.
"The first game was a really good college baseball game," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV. "We had opportunities, we had men in scoring position with less than two outs, but we didn't get it done. They did, and they won. We didn't execute a lot of things, offensively, that I thought we should have, and we're disappointed about that. The second game, we got the grand slam early, and that helps. We hit the ball pretty good in that game, but tomorrow should be a heck of matchup with Eric Rohe pitching for us. We have to start winning a series, we can't settle for just one out of three."