The Carthage College baseball team (19-20, 11-10 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) closed out its regular-season schedule on Sunday, May 8 with a 9-8 loss to non-conference opponent Concordia University (Wis., 23-17) at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis.
With Ty Lawson on the hill and making his first pitching appearance of the year, Concordia (Wis.) took a 3-0 lead in the first inning on a three-run home run by Isaac Tewes. The Falcons added another run in the second and then came up with four in the third to take an 8-0 lead. A two-run homer by Nate Van Elle was the big hit in third. The Red Men scored a single run in the bottom half to make it 8-1. Concordia scored a run in the sixth and led, 9-1, before Carthage tallied two in the seventh to make it 9-3.
A.J. Kaprelian's two-run homer in the eighth cut the lead to 9-5, and the Red Men threatened in the bottom of the ninth. Jared Helmich, able to bat after leaving Saturday's second North Central College game with an elbow injury, drove in a run with a single and no outs. With two outs, John Burkiewicz plated two runs with another single to cut the lead to 9-8, but Nick Pierce grounded out to second base to end the game.
Seth Hougesen (3-3), the first-of-four Falcon pitchers, picked up the win by limiting the Red Men to one run on four hits and a walk over five innings. Ty Lawson, the first-of-five Carthage hurlers, took the loss. Lawson surrendered four runs on five hits and three walks over an inning and two-thirds. Sean Hannigan followed in the second inning, Eddie Gengo Jr in the third, Brandon Hrdlicka in the seventh and Joe Sambucci in the ninth. John Burkiewicz led the Red Men hitters by going three-for-three with two runs scored and two RBI.
Elsewhere in the CCIW, Augustana College (Ill., 27-12, 15-6 CCIW) pummeled Millikin University, 14-5, on Sunday to complete that three-game series. With the win, the Vikings claimed a co-championship with No. 12 North Central College (28-8, 15-6). Augustana (Ill.) won the North Central series earlier in the year, giving the Vikings the tie-breaker for the top seed and the home field in the CCIW Baseball Tournament.
The tournament gets underway on Thursday, May 12 at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field in Moline, Ill. Carthage clinched the fourth seed on Saturday, May 7 on the basis of fifth-place Wheaton College (Ill., 23-17, 10-11 CCIW) losing to Illinois Wesleyan University (22-17, 13-8), 3-2, at Jack Horenberger Field in Bloomington, Ill. The Red Men will take on Augustana in Thursday's second game (probable time of 7 p.m.), with second-seeded North Central (Ill.) taking on third-seeded Illinois Wesleyan in Thursday's first game.