The Carthage College baseball team (4-7, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) surrendered seven runs in the eighth inning and lost to No. 23 Buena Vista University (8-3), 12-11, on Thursday, March 24 at the Tucson Invitational in Tucson, Ariz. In a second game on Thursday, the Red Men were upended by Bethel University (Minn., 8-5), 16-3, both games played a the Kino Sports Complex.
Carthage scored four times in the first inning against Buena Vista, collecting four hits, including three doubles, and being aided by an outfield error. Jared Helmich and Reed Hero both doubled in runs in the first. The Red Men made it 5-0 with a fielder's choice RBI by A.J. Kaprelian in the second, and another fielder's choice RBI by Jordan Wiegold in the third made it 6-0. Carthage went up, 7-0, in the fifth on an RBI-single by Alex Letto.
The Beavers got three runs back in the fifth, two of those on a two-run triple by Brandon Wessels, to make it a 7-3 game. The Red Men upped their lead to 8-3 in the seventh on a solo home run by Brandon Duckman. Buena Vista scored a run in the seventh, and Carthage led, 8-4. The Red Men added three runs in the eighth and led by seven, 11-4. With the game seemingly in hand, Carthage suffered a meltdown in the bottom of the eighth. Buena Vista sent 11 men to the plate and scored seven times off relief pitchers C.J. Casey and Colin Dressen, all unearned, thanks for a pair of fielding errors by Red Men shortstop Myles Farley. When the smoke cleared, the game was tied, 11-11.
After Carthage failed to score in the top of the ninth, Buena Vista won the game in the bottom half. With two outs, Devon Harms singled, and Neil Marshall followed with a double to left-centerfield fence to score Harms with the winning run.
Dalton Mason (1-0), the third-of-three Beavers hurlers, picked up the win by pitching he final two innings., with Colin Dressen (0-1) taking the loss. Jared Helmich started for the Red Men and allowed three runs on five hits, three walks and four strikeouts over six innings. Carthage's Matt Rave and Alex Lotto had two hits apiece .
In the Bethel game, Carthage pitcher Chris DeRue loaded the bases twice in the opening inning, and the Royals wound up scoring five times. The big blow was a three-run double by Sam Horner. The Red Men got a run back in the bottom of the first, but Bethel tacked on two more in the top of the second for a 7-1 lead. Carthage scored a run in the second to make it 7-2, but the Royals tallied three in the third to take a 10-2 lead. The Red Men scored another single run in the third, but Bethel added one in the fourth and led, 12-3. The Royals closed out the scoring with a four-run fifth inning to take a 16-3 lead. The game was halted after the seventh due to a 10-run rule.
Grant Martinson (2-0), the second-of-four Bethel hurlers was credited with the win after starter Tyler Heitmann left the game in the third with an injury. Chris DeRue (0-1), the first-of-four Red Men pitchers took the loss. DeRue surrendered the first 10 runs on 11 hits and four walks in just two innings. Tucker Maris, Sean Hannigan and Brandon Hrdlicka followed. The Royals clubbed their way to 23 hits, with five different players collecting three hits each.
Carthage take on Carleton College (2-13) on Friday, March 25 in a 10 a.m., MST contest, also at the Kino Sports Complex.