The Carthage College baseball team (17-17, 10-8 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) split a Sunday, May 1 doubleheader with CCIW-opponent Millikin University (16-17, 5-13 CCIW) at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis.  Millikin won the first game, 7-3, but Carthage took the nightcap by an 8-0 margin.  The two teams opened the three-game series on Friday, April 29 with the Red Men winning a 5-4 decision at Sunnyside Park in Decatur, Ill.

Carthage remains in fourth place in the league, and the Red Men have a two-game lead over fifth-place Wheaton College (Ill., 20-16, 7-9 CCIW).  The Thunder play host to North Park University in Monday, May 2 doubleheader.  No. 15 North Central College (26-6, 13-5) leads the league, with Augustana College (ill., 23-12, 11-6) and Illinois Wesleyan University (19-15, 11-6) tied for second place.  The Titans play host to the Vikings in a Monday single game in Bloomington, Ill.

Millikin took a 1-0 in the first inning of the opener on a sacrifice fly by Devin Crews.   Carthage took a 2-1 lead in the second on RBI-singles by Jordan Wiegold and John Burkiewicz.  An RBI-single by Crosley Duckman in the third gave the Red Men a 3-1 lead.   The Big Blue scored three times in the third to take a 4-3 lead.  Julian Gutierrez doubled in the first two runs and eventually scored on a wild pitch and throwing error by Carthage catcher A.J. Kaprelian.  Millikin tacked on two more in the fifth and one in the eighth to up its lead to 7-3. 

Julian Gutierrez and Luke Azzarelli led Millikin's 10-hit attack with two hits each.  Jordan Wiegold and Crosley Duckmann had two hits each for Carthage.  Max Paolicchi (2-3), in relief of Owen Pulver, picked up the win for the Big Blue.  Paolicchi entered the game in the fifth and blanked the Red Men on two hits, two walks and seven strikeouts over five innings.  Jared Helmich (5-1) took his first loss of the season in a complete-game effort.  Helmich surrendered seven runs, six earned, on 10 hits and two walks over eight innings.

In the nightcap, Carthage took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a two-run single by Reed Hero.  John Burkiewicz singled in a run in the second to make it 3-0.  The Red Men went up, 4-0, in the fourth.  Jared Helmich's three-run double in the fifth inning put Carthage up, 7-0, and Jordan Wiegold's run-scoring single in the eighth closed out the scoring at 8-0.  Wiegold led the Red Men with three hits in four trips to the plate.  Carthage left 15 runners on base, and the Red Men had the bases loaded in the second, third, fourth and fifth frames.

Carthage pitcher Tim Sulik (3-3) twirled a gem, throwing a six-hit shutout, walking none and striking out 11 batters.  Phillip Ganley (3-4), the first-of-five Big Blue hurlers, took the loss.  "Tim Sulik really picked us up in the second game," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "after we played as bad a game in the opener as we've played all year.  We took a loss in that game that we never should have taken.  I thought we had a really good opportunity to distance ourselves by sweeping this series."

Carthage plays host to non-conference opponent Marian University (Wis.) in a 3 p.m. game on Tuesday, May 3, also at Augie Schmidt Field.  On Friday, the Red Men open their final conference series of the year by playing host to No. 15 North Central College in a 3 p.m. game at Augie Schmidt Field.  "It's been the hard way all year," admitted Schmidt, "and I guess it's going to stay that way through the last weekend.  North Central is going to be a hard-fought series.  This team can beat anyone, but we can also lose to anyone."