The Carthage College baseball team (26-12) opened play at the CCIW Baseball Tournament on Thursday, May 8 with a 3-2 win in 10 innings over top-seeded North Central College (25-15) at Zimmerman Stadium/Alumni Field in Naperville, Ill. Illinois Wesleyan University (25-14) defeated Wheaton College (Ill., 21-20), 7-1, in the other first-round contest.
North Central (25-15) plays Wheaton (21-20) in a loser's bracket game on Friday, May 8 at 9:30 a.m., followed by Carthage versus Illinois Wesleyan (25-14) at 12:30 p.m. The winner of the morning game plays the Carthage-Illinois Wesleyan loser at 3:30 p.m. on Friday. The Red Men are making their first appearance in the tournament since 2011 after missing the event the last three years.
In the opening-round game, after six scoreless innings, Carthage broke through in the top of the seventh with two runs. A two-out walk from North Central pitcher Ben Krusen to Matt Rave opened the door. Matt Cmiel followed with an RBI-single to score Zach Wade, who'd been hit by pitch. Jared Knoespel then drove in Rave with a single to right.
Carthage pitcher Jared Helmich was twirling a no-hitter with one out in the seventh that was broken up by a bouncing single up the middle by Chris Hill. The Cardinals proceeded to load the bases, but Helmich worked out the jam with called third strike to David Rico and an infield grounder to preserve the Red Men's 2-0 lead. North Central loaded the bases again with one out in the eighth. Luke Mentkowski relieved Helmich. An RBI-grounder by Hill scored a run, and a bloop-single to right by Jake Rone scored the game-tying run.
The Cardinals loaded the bases again in the bottom of the ninth off Mentkowski, but junior righty struck out Joe Paparone and got Bobby Smith on a pop up to end the inning. The Red Men loaded the bases with one out in the 10th, and Cardinals starting pitcher Ben Krusen exited after throwing 150 pitches. Pinch-hitter John Burkiewicz walked to load the bases. With two outs and Jordan Van Dyck pitching, Zach Wade hit a twirling ground ball back to the mound that Van Dyck bobbled for an error, and Graham Wick scored the go-ahead run. Kyle Cibrario (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.) worked the 10th inning to earn his first save. The winning pitcher was Luke Mentkowski (Jr., Greenfield, Wis./Whitnall, 3-0).
Jared Helmich (Jr., Lake Villa, Ill./Fox Lake-Grant Community) worked the first seven and one-third innings and allowed two runs on four hits, six walks and six strikeouts. Ben Krusen (3-3) took the loss. Jared Knoespel went two-for-five for the Red Men.
"It's getting a little old," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "but Jared Helmich carried us again today. He pitched a phenomenal game and deserved to get the win. It was a great baseball game, and it was what tournament baseball should be. It came down to one goofy play where their pitcher couldn't field a spinning ball, and we win the game. That's what tight baseball is all about. We're young, and we show it, at times, but Jared Helmich is the story. He's tough, and he gives the whole team a toughness that we haven't had in awhile. Luke Mentkowski did a great job working out of a base-loaded jam, and Kyle Cibrario came in and threw strikes in the 10th inning. We're 1-0 in the tournament and happy as heck."
In other baseball news, Carthage catcher Nick Schmidlkofer (Sr., Wind Lake, Wis./Muskego, biology/neuroscience major, 3.95 cumulative grade-point average) was named Capital One first-team academic all-district on Thursday.