Saturday was just a missed opportunity for the Carthage College baseball team (11-10, 3-5).  After defeating College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin-opponent Millikin University (10-10, 5-3), 4-1, in the opening game of a doubleheader, the Red Men had a chance to gain some ground on the league leaders with a sweep.  Unfortunately, the Big Blue took the nightcap by a 9-1 margin at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis.

With the split, Carthage sits in seventh place in the CCIW standings, ahead of both Elmhurst College and Carroll University, and one full game behind sixth-place North Central College.  The top-six teams in the league qualify for the 2019 CCIW Baseball Tournament.

Carthage broke a scoreless tie in the opener with a pair of runs in the third inning.  Ricky Bergstrom scored from third on an attempted double-play ball that Millikin second baseman Brent Beals threw away.  Vince Schwartz drove in the second run with an single.  The Red Men upped their lead to 3-0 in the fifth on an RBI-double by Myles Farley.  The Big Blue scored a run in the sixth, but Luke Beckmann's RBI-single in the eighth made it a 4-1 game.

Carthage starting pitcher Matt Willett (3-0) twirled a gem.  Willett, who had a no-hitter going thru five innings, retired 14 in a row after walking Mason Bruce with one out in the first inning.  Andrew Auton broke up his no-hit bid with a leadoff double in the sixth inning.  Willett went the distance in the nine-inning game and allowed just one run on three hits and four walks, while striking out a career-high 13 batters.  Millikin starter Adam Zuk (1-1) took the loss and surrendered four runs on nine hits, no walks and six strikeouts.  "Matt Willett threw a great game against a good team," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "and we beat a good pitcher.  That was a plus.  Matt has sort of emerged as our main guy, which is awesome.  To have a guy who can go nine innings twice in a week makes it easier for all of us."

Myles Farley went three-for-four with two doubles and an RBI.  Colton Klein, ranked 10th among NCAA Division III batting leaders, also went three-for-four.  Farley and Klein collected six of the Red Men's 10 hits in the game.

In the nightcap, Millikin took a 1-0 lead in the first inning, with Mason Bruce scoring on the front end of a Carthage double play.  Myles Farley drilled a solo home run to left in the fourth inning to tie the game, 1-1.  A bloop, two-out single by Millikin's Anthony Bryan in the fifth scored two runs, putting the Big Blue up, 3-1. 

Millikin scored three times in the sixth off three different Carthage pitchers.  A lead off solo home run by Brent Beals chased starting pitcher Kyle Damon from the game, with Clark Hendricks replacing him on the hill.  Kyle Kane singled in a run off Hendricks to put the Big Blue by four runs, 5-1.  Daniel Mutter replaced Hendricks and hit Anthony Bryan with the bases loaded to force in the third run of the inning, and the Big Blue led, 6-1.  The Big Blue tacked on three more in the eighth to make it a 9-1 contest.  Jon Walters hit a two-run single off Aiden Earl, and Brent Beals scored on a Joe Atkins wild pitch.

Connor Gross (4-2) was the winning pitcher.  Gross limited the Red Men to one run on eight hits, three walks and three strikeouts over seven innings.  Carthage pitchers combined for nine bases on balls and two hit batters.  Kyle Damon (1-2) took the loss and gave up the first four runs on five hits, two walks and four strikeouts over five innings. 

"We got some good starting pitching in the second game," said Schmidt, "but our bullpen imploded, and we got beat by a another good pitcher.  We hit the ball and score some runs, so we have to tip our cap to both of the Millikin starting pitchers.  That said, we have to find some guys in the bullpen who can throw—we're just searching for that."

The two teams conclude the series with an 11 a.m. single game on Sunday, April 7.  Sunday's contest, originally scheduled for Noon, was moved up an hour in an attempt to avoid expected rain in the afternoon.  "Millikin has a good club," said Schmidt.  "Hopefully, we can put ourselves in a little better position on Sunday."

Injury Report:  Third baseman Cody Phelps, third on the team in batting at .378, broke his thumb playing first base in the second game of Tuesday's doubleheader versus Wheaton College (Ill.) and will miss the rest of the season…pitcher Nate Odahl injured an elbow during the Tucson trip and remains unavailable.  Odahl could return for the final week of the season.  "Cody Phelps got run into on a collision play at first base on Tuesday," said Schmidt.  "He played the rest of the game, but it's broken, and we lost our three-hole hitter.  That hurts, for sure."