The Carthage College baseball team (5-1, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) split a Friday, March 20 doubleheader with Hamline University (8-4) at the Tucson Invitational. The Red Men won the first game, 6-1, before falling in the nightcap by an 11-10 margin at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz.
Carthage jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first inning of the opener, with the big hit a two-run double by Drew Bailey. The Fighting Pipers got a run in the second to cut the lead to 4-1, but the Red Men scored in the third to make it a 5-1 game, and reed Hero's RBI-single in the sixth closed out the scoring at 6-1.
Carthage pitcher Brandon Hrdlicka (Jr., Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township, 2-0) worked the first six innings of the seven-inning contest and allowed just one run on six hits and three walks, while striking out five batters. Luke Mentkowski worked the seventh inning. Ryan Gick (0-1) took the loss for Hamline. Nick Schmdlkofer (Sr., Wind Lake, Wis./Muskego) Drew Bailey and Zach Wade (So., Kenosha, Wis./Tremper) each two hits for the Red Men.
The two teams traded runs in the first inning of the nightcap, before Carthage tallied four in the second inning to take a 5-1 lead. Nick Pierce hit a two-run single in the inning. Hamline scored in the bottom of the second to make it 5-2, but the Red Men added a run in the third to go up, 6-2. The Fighting Pipers scored four times in the fourth to tie the game, 6-6. Graham Wick's two-run double in the fifth put Carthage back up by two, 8-6. Hamline came up with five runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a three-run lead, 11-8. The Red Men scored twice in the final inning before Ryan Rodgers was cut down at third trying to get an extra base on a single to leftfield.
Nicholas Roesller (2-0), the fourth-of-four Fighting Piper hurlers, was the winning pitcher. Joe Nelson (Fr., La Grange, Ill./Nazareth Academy, 0-1), the second-of-four Red Men pitchers, tookthe loss, with Tim Sulik starting the game. Sulik surrendered six runs on 10 hits over three and two-thirds innings. Nick Schmidlkofer, Zach Wade, Graham Wick (Jr., Lake Forest, Ill./Lake Forest Academy) and Nick Pierce (Fr., Oconomowoc, Wis.) each had two hits, with Pierce driving in three runs.
"Brandon Hrdlicka pitched really well in the first game.," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "and we came out slugging it. We played a solid game in the first one. The second game wasn't quite so clean. Hamline hit the ball on the ground a lot, and these fields are so dry, they play fast. To their credit, they came back. We were in control of the second game, but we had two sacrifice-bunt plays where we couldn't get an out. If you do that, you're going to lose games. The second one got away. I probably struck with pitcher Tim Sulik too long in the second game, but we're trying to stretch our guys out on this trip. That one is on me"
Carthage rightfielder Luc DiMaso pulled a hamstring running to first base in the second inning and left the game. Second baseman Matt Rave injured an ankle, also running to first base, and left the game.
The trip continues with a 9 a.m. game against Luther College on Saturday, March 21, followed by Middlebury College on Sunday, March 22 at 10 a.m., Carleton College on Monday, March 23 at 12:30 p.m., Oberlin College on Tuesday, March 24 at 11 a.m. and Oberlin again on Wednesday, March 25 at 9 a.m.