The Carthage College baseball team (27-12) advanced to the championship round of the CCIW Baseball Tournament on Friday, May 8 with a 3-2 win over Illinois Wesleyan University (25-15). at Zimmerman Stadium/Alumni Field in Naperville, Ill.
Carthage opened tournament play on Thursday, May 8 with a 3-2 win in 10 innings over top-seeded North Central College (25-15). Illinois Wesleyan University (25-14) defeated Wheaton College (Ill., 21-20), 7-1, in the other first-round contest. North Central (26-15) eliminated Wheaton (21-21), 13-1, in a loser's bracket game on Friday morning. Friday's third game between North Central (26-15) and Illinois Wesleyan (25-14) was postponed until Saturday, May 9 at 11 a.m. due to an unfavorable weather forecast. The winner of that game advances to play Carthage in the championship round on Saturday. The seventh game of the tournament, if needed, would be played on Sunday, May 10 at Noon (time tentative).
In the win over Illinois Wesleyan, Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Graham Wick reached base on a strikeout/wild pitch, stole second and scored on a throwing error by Illinois Wesleyan third baseman Gino Cavalieria. Pat Mollo's two-run homer, just inside the leftfield foul pole, in the bottom half gave the Titans a 2-1 lead. The Red Men scored two in the third to take a 3-2 lead. A sacrifice fly by Drew Bailey scored the tying run, and Wick scored the go-ahead run on a fielder's choice.
That was it for the scoring. Carthage pitcher Tim Sulik (So., Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI, 5-2) went the distance and limited the Titans to two runs on six hits and two walks over nine innings. John Munyon (4-3) took the loss and surrendered three runs on 11 hits and two walks over eight and one-third innings. Wick and Jared Knoespel each had three hits for the Red Men.
"We're so young and inexperienced," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "and we show it at times. I approached this weekend like, "let's get into the tournament, experience it, and what it takes to win it.' And then, Tim Sulik guts it out for nine innings, and somebody has to beat us twice. I don't know what this team might do in the future, but this tournament has been a great experience, so far. We have a chance to stay together for another week at the NCAA tournament. I knew we were going to be better this year, but I never expected this. On the downside, we failed to get a bunt down three times, and did a terrible job of running the bases—that's where the youth comes in. I don't care what level you play at, baseball gets harder at the tournament level. We kind of snuck through this one, and we need to play better."