The Carthage College baseball team (12-13, 5-6 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) opened a three-game series with CCIW-opponent Augustana College (Ill.. 18-10, 7-4 CCIW) on Saturday, April 16 by splitting a doubleheader with the Vikings at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis. Augustana (Ill.) won the first game, 6-3, to extend Carthage's conference-losing streak to four games, but the Red Men came back to take the nightcap, 3-2. The two teams conclude the series with a Noon single game on Sunday, April 17, also at Augie Schmidt Field.
"I think Augustana is the best team we've played this year," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV. "They look really good. The beat us handily the first game, but we got enough done to win the second game. After we lost the first game, the best we could do was win the second, and we're happy about that."
Carthage's split, combined with Elmhurst College winning two-of-three from Wheaton College (Ill.) this weekend, leaves the Red Men in fifth place, just a half-game ahead of sixth-place Elmhurst (16-12, 5-7 CCIW).
Augustana took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener on a two-out RBI-single by Trace Gingerich. A sacrifice fly by the Vikings' Alex Fluehr in the second made 2-0. Augustana went up, 4-0, in the fourth on a two-run single by Cayton Wallace. A two-run single by Carter Amundsen in the fifth upped the Vikings' lead to 6-0. The Red Men cut the lead to 6-1 in the seventh on a solo home run by Zach Wade. Carthage loaded the bases with one out in the ninth. Reed Hero drew a bases-loaded walk to force in a run, and Matt Rave singled to third to score another, but an inning-ending double play killed the rally, with Augustana on the winning end of a 6-3 contest.
Walter White (5-1) was the winning pitcher for Augustana, and he limited Carthage to one run on seven hits, three walks and five strikeouts over eight innings. Casey Weir worked the ninth inning. Tim Sulik (2-2) took the loss and surrendered six runs, four earned, on 11 hits and a walk over six innings. Joe Nelson pitched the final three frames and blanked the Vikings on a hit an walk. Cayton Wallace led Augustana's 12-hit attack by going three-for-four with two RBI. Zach Wade and Matt Rave had two hits apiece for the Red Men.
Carthage opened up a 3-0 lead in the fourth inning of the nightcap. Jared Helmich doubled in the first run, and Jared Knoespel followed with a two-run single. The Vikings got a run back in the sixth to make it 3-1.
Carthage starting pitcher Chris DeRue pitched into the seventh inning before giving way to Kyle Cibrario. In the Augustana ninth, Peter Doughty singled in a run to shave the margin to 3-2, The Vikings had runners on the corners, but pinch-hitter Jeff Prior flied to leftfield to end the game.
Chris DeRue (1-1) picked up the win by limiting Augustana to one run on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts over six innings. Kyle Cibrario, who had not pitched since the March 21 Buena Vista University game due to an arm injury, worked the final three innings to earn his first save. Cibrario allowed one run on four hits. "Chris DeRue pitched great," said Schmidt, "and we got him out before he could do any damage. Having Kyle Cibrario back should really help us and give us an experienced arm at the back end of the bullpen." Zach Morgenstern (4-3) took the loss. Jared Knoespel drove in two runs for the Red Men.
"We're at that stage where we really need to win a series," said Schmidt. "Tomorrow will be another tough day, but they all are. This conference is upside down, and it's going to come down to which teams can scrounge up enough wins to get into the conference tournament. To win the title is going to take some team to get hot and pile up some wins."
In a schedule change for next week, the Red Men's Tuesday, April 19 non-conference game versus Rockford University at Rivets Stadium in Loves Park, Ill., has been postponed a day to Wednesday, April 20, still 3 p.m., due to a makeup conference game for the Regents.