By Steve Marovich, Athletics Staff Writer/2022 Baseball Contact
The Carthage College baseball team ended its spring trip to the Tucson Invitational on Saturday, March 19 with an 11-1 loss in seven innings to Gustavus Adolphus College (8-2) at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz. The Firebirds lost six-of-seven games in Tucson.
In Saturday's contest, Gustavus Adolphus jumped on Carthage starting pitcher Nick Hamilton for three runs in the opening inning. An outfield error set the table for a two-run triple by Gavin Baker, and Nick Azar's sacrifice fly scored Baker from third.
The Gusties made it 6-0 in the fifth. An infield error put Mitch Casperson on base, and Drake Siens tripled him home. Jack Hanson followed with an RBI-single to score Siens, and one out later, Azar singled in Hanson.
Carthage scored its lone run in the sixth on an RBI-double by Bryce Prybylinski. Gustavus Adolphus upped its lead to 8-1 in the bottom of the sixth. Siens scored the first run on an infield error, one of four Firebird miscues on the day, and Hanson drove in the second run with a single.
The Gusties scored three more in the bottom of the seventh Casperson drove in two runs with a single and Siens the final run with a sacrifice fly. The game was halted after the seventh due to a 10-run rule.
Starter Lane Glaser (1-0) was the winning pitcher for Gustavus Adolphus, as he held Carthage to one run on four hits, three walks and nine strikeouts over six innings. Sam Baker pitched a hitless seventh inning. Nick Hamilton (0-3) took the loss and gave up the first six runs, only three earned, on five hits, a walk and eight strikeouts over five innings. Jake Hartman Jr. pitched the sixth inning and Troy Siranovic the seventh.
"We got some decent starting pitching today," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "but no hitting and more bad defense. "It's been a disappointing week, and just not playing good baseball right now, and we're not ready to face the kind of pitching we're seeing. Everything that can go wrong has gone wrong. We have to get back to work, and we have to do better."
The Firebirds were scheduled to travel to Ripon, Wis., on Wednesday, March 23 to play Ripon College, but that game was canceled to all-day rain in the weather forecast. Carthage travels to Terre Haute, Ind., this weekend for four games at the Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology's Art Nehf Field. The Firebirds play Rose-Hulman on Friday at 5 p.m., CDT; play a split doubleheader with the Illinois Institute of Technology and Rose-Hulman on Saturday at 10 a.m., CDT; and wind up the weekend with a single game against Illinois Tech on Sunday at 11 a.m., CDT.