The losing streak is finally over after eight-straight losses. The Carthage College baseball team (15-18, 5-13) won its first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game since April 7 on Wednesday night, April 24 with a 10-0 win over Wheaton College (Ill., 21-11, 11-8) at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis. .
Illinois Wesleyan University edged Augustana College (Ill.), 6-5, on Wednesday, so the Red Men remain four games out of the CCIW Baseball Tournament with six games to go.
Vince Schwartz, the CCIW-leader in RBI, hit a two-run single in the first inning. Ben Levicki followed with a run-scoring single to give Carthage an early, 3-0- lead. Colton Klein connected on a solo home run in the second to make it a 4-0 game. The Red Men went up, 5-0, in the fourth on an RBI-single by Myles Farley.
Carthage scored four times in the fifth to up its lead to 9-0. Levicki doubled in a run in the inning, Klein drove in another with a grounder, Luke Beckmann singled in the third run and Farley the fourth. Levicki powered a solo home run to straightaway centerfield in the sixth to make it 10-0. The Thunder went out in order in the top of the seventh, and the game was called on account of a 10-run rule.
Dante Guarascio upped his record to 4-1 with a masterful performance, blanking Wheaton on five hits, one walk and five strikeouts over seven frames. Kevin Champlin (4-1), the first-of-three Thunder hurlers, took the loss. Champlin surrendered six runs on 10 hits over four innings. Carthage out-hit Wheaton, 15-5, with Luke Beckmann leading the way with three hits in four trips, along with an RBI. Colton Klein went three-for-four with three runs scored, a home run and two RBI. Myles Farley went two-for-four with two RBI, Johnny Belskis two-for-four with an RBI, Clayton Taylor two-for-four, and Ben Levicki went two-for-three with his eighth home run and two RBI.
"It feels to good to win a game," admitted Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV. "Wheaton has a good ball club. They're in the tournament, and they just got off a big series sweep of Augustana. It started with the pitching. Dante Guarascio threw a great game. We came out and hit the ball and battled. I wish I could say I saw this coming, but I didn't. This group has been kicked and kicked and kicked and has taken some gut punches, but we're still competing. We want to take things one game at a time, finish strong and show we have some pride in Carthage baseball."
Carthage opens a three-game series with conference-opponent Carroll University (Wis.) on Friday, April 26 by playing to the Pioneers in a 4 p.m. doubleheader at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis. Friday's set, originally scheduled for Saturday, was moved up a day due to a 70 percent chance of rain after 1 p.m. on Saturday.