The Carthage College baseball team (1-1, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) opened its 2013 season on Saturday, March 9 by splitting a doubleheader with the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology (2-6) at the Art Nehf Baseball Field in Terre Haute, Ind. Carthage won the opening game, 8-6, before losing the nightcap by a 6-5 margin, as the Fightin' Engineers scored twice in the bottom of the ninth inning.
In the opener, Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first when Matt Richer singled, went to third on a single by Kyle Pusateri and scored on a wild pitch. The Red Men made it 2-0 in the second when Brian Huntsinger walked, advanced to second on a walk to Tanner Wensman and scored on a throwing error by Rose-Hulman shortstop Jordan Chipka. The Fightin' Engineers scored three times in the bottom of the second to take a 3-2 lead. The first two runs came on bases-loaded walks by Red Men pitcher Andy Arenson and the third on an Arenson wild pitch.
Mike Pugliese, Chris Tydd, Tanner Wensman and Kyle Pusateri came up with RBI-singles in the third inning to give Carthage a 6-3 lead. The Fightin' Engineers got a run back in the third off Arenson and two in the fourth off relief pitcher Mitch Lochen to tie the game, 6-6. The Red Men took the lead, for good, 8-6, in the fifth on an RBI-double by Wensman and an RBI-single by Marc Mantucca. Kyle Pusateri (Sr., Schaumburg, Ill.) went three-for-four with an RBI and Tanner Wensman (Jr., Oconomowoc, Wis.) two-for-five with two RBI. Drew Bailey So., Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley), Brian Huntsinger (Jr., Glendale, Wis./Nicolet) and Mike Pugliese (Jr., Naperville, Ill./Arlington Heights-St. Francis) had two hits each, as the Red Men collected 14 hits overall.
The winning pitcher was Mitch Lochen (Sr., Glenview, Ill./Glenbrook South, 1-0), who worked the final six and two-thirds innings and limited Rose-Hulman to two runs on five hits and two walks. Andrew Arenson (Jr., Naperville, Ill./North) started and surrendered the first four runs on three hits and seven walks over two and one-third innings. R.J. Carroll (0-1), the second-of-three Fightin' Engineers pitchers, took the loss.
Rose-Hulman took a 1-0 lead in the opening inning of the nightcap. Carthage tied the game in the second inning on an RBI-single by Brian Huntsinger and took a 2-1 lead in the third on a run-scoring single by Drew Bailey. Chris Tydd's RBI-single in the fourth upped the Red Men's lead to 4-1. That's the way it stayed until the seventh inning.
Jeremy Salzman (Jr., Arlington Heights, Ill./Buffalo Grove) pitched the first six innings and limited Rose-Hulman to three runs, one earned, on six hits and a walk, while striking out nine batters. Sam Wilhelms entered the game in the seventh with two runners on and no outs. With two outs and runners at second and third, Wilhelms hit Donnie Waters with a pitch to load the bases. Bobby Newman followed with a two-run single to make it a 4-3 game. Wilhelms then got Donald Stopka to line out to second base for the final out of the inning.
An RBI-grounder by the Fightin' Engineers' Jordan Chipka, off Wilhelms, in the eighth inning knotted things at 4-4. The Red Men re-gained the lead, 5-4, in the ninth when Brian Huntsinger worked a base-loaded walk from pitcher Caleb Post to score Tydd from third. Wilhelms got into trouble again in the bottom of the ninth, as Rose-Hulman loaded the bases with one out on an infield error and a pair of singles. Matthew Turk then bounced a ball to second baseman Mike Pugliese, who was charged with a throwing error on the play trying to complete the double play, allowing Bobby Newman to score the tying run and Josh Hoenig the game-winning run for the final, 6-5 margin.
Caleb Post (1-1), the third-of-three Rose-Hulman hurlers, was the winning pitcher. Sam Wilhelms (Jr., Fond du Lac, Wis., 0-1) took the loss. Carthage's Chris Tydd (Jr., Batavia, Ill./Aurora-Marmion Academy) went four-for-five with an RBI, Brian Huntsinger two-for-four with two RBI. The two teams conclude the three-game series on Sunday, March 10 with a Noon, EDT single game.