By Steve Marovich
The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde show known as Carthage College baseball (8-5), opened at home on Saturday, March 23 with a split of a doubleheader with Defiance College (9-4-1) at Augie Schmidt Field. Defiance won the opening game, 13-10, but Carthage took the nightcap, 14-1 in seven innings.
Defiance took a 1-0 lead in the first inning of the opener when leadoff batter Garrett Sierra scored from second base on a failed pickoff play. Carthage second baseman Ryan Kramer dropped a relay throw near first base that allowed Sierra to score all the way from second.
The Red Men took a 2-1 lead in the bottom half of the inning on RBI-singles by Vince Schwartz and Myles Farley. Carthage was poised to add more with the bases loaded and one out, but a pair of infield pop ups ended the inning.
Defiance scored three times in the second to take a 4-2 lead. After Sierra drove in a run with a single, the Yellow Jackets proceeded to load the bases, and Troy Konwinski drove in two with a sharp single to right.
Carthage tied the game with two runs in the third on an RBI-single by Schwartz and an RBI-grounder by Ben Levicki. A six-run fourth inning broke the game open for the Yellow Jackets. After Sierra singled in a run, Defiance loaded the bases with nobody out, and Konwinski doubled down the right field line to score all three runners for an 8-4 lead.
That double chased Carthage starting pitcher Jacob Delabio from the game, with Pasquale Atten replacing him. Tanner Sippich greeted Atten with an RBI-single for a 9-4 margin, and Grant Vickery added an RBI-single for a 10-4 lead, as the Yellow Jackets batted around. Defiance tacked on two runs in the fifth and one in the seventh to up its lead to 13-4.
The Red Men scored three in the seventh. An RBI-double by Carthage's Luke Beckmann, along with a sacrifice flies by both Johnny Belskis and Rick Bergstrom made it 13-7. Carthage scored again in the eighth to make it a 13-8 contest.
A two-run single up the middle by Kramer in the ninth brought the Red Men to within three, 13-10. With two outs in the ninth, Defiance closer Jack Powell entered the game and got Vince Schwartz on a grounder to short to end the contest.
Delabio (0-3) allowed nine runs, eight earned, on six hits, five walks and five strikeouts over three innings. Atteo entered the game in the fourth, Chance Roach in the sixth and Aiden Earl in the ninth. Daniel Tomalak (1-0), the second-of-six Yellow Jacket hurlers, picked up the win, with Jack Powell earning his second save.
Troy Konwinski led Defiance with three hits and five RBI. Cody Phelps went five-for-five for the Red Men with three runs scored, while Ryan Kramer went three-for-five with two runs scored and two RBI.
In the nightcap, Carthage broke a scoreless tie in the third with an RBI-triple by Cody Phelps. The Red Men made it 4-0 in the fourth on a three-run homer by Matthew Pratscher off the left-centerfield scoreboard. Colton Klein followed with a solo home run to right, and the Red Men led, 5-0.
Vince Schwartz launched a solo home run to left to lead off the fifth, and the Red Men led, 6-0. Pratscher doubled in a run, with a second run scoring on an over-thrown relay from the outfield. Jake Snider hit a sacrifice fly to make it 9-0.
Another home run by Schwartz in the seventh, along with an RBI-double by Clayton Taylor, upped the lead to 11-0. RBI-singles by Pratscher, Jake Snider and Klein made it 14-0. Defiance scored once in the seventh, and the game was called on account of a 10-run rule at 14-1.
Matthew Pratscher led the Red Men's 17-hit attack by going three-for-three with three runs scored, a double, a home run and five RBI. Luke Beckmann also went three-for-three with three runs scored. Colton Klein and Vince Schwartz each had two hits in four trips with a home run and two RBI, while Ryan Kramer went two-for-five.
Matt Willet (1-0) pitched brilliantly, allowing only a single to Michael Gilliland in the first inning, along with three walks and four strikeouts, over six innings. Brandon Hanik worked the seventh inning. Troy Konwinski (0-2), the first-of-three Yellow Jacket pitchers, took the loss by surrendering nine runs over and four and one-third inning.
"I've been doing this a long time," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "but I don't have an answer for knowing what we're going to get in any particular game, or even a particular inning. This season has been an adventure for us, so far. Today, in the first game, we invented new ways to give up runs—it was a tad embarrassing."
"Even in the first game," continued Schmidt, "we battled back and scored a bunch of runs, but we lost. In the second game, we scored a bunch of runs again, but we got a great pitching performance from Matt Willett. The pitching staff has been the biggest mystery so far. It's Forrest Gump's box of chocolates. We have to figure that out."
Carthage opens its College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin schedule next Wednesday, March 27 with a 1 p.m. single game versus North Park University at the Holmgren Athletic Complex in Chicago.