By Steve Marovich, Athletics Staff Writer/2022 Baseball Contact
The Carthage College baseball team (6-19, 1-7 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) dropped the rubber game of a three-game set with CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill., 9-14, 5-3) on Saturday, April 16 with a 14-7 loss at Lee Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream, Ill. The two teams opened the series with a Friday, April 15 doubleheader at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis. Wheaton won the opening game on Friday, 16-15, but the Carthage hung on to take the nightcap, 5-3.
On Saturday, Carthage jumped on Wheaton starting pitcher J.D. Van Hook with a four-run second inning. Cody Tostrud singled in the first run, followed by a base-loaded walk to Austin Prybylinski and a two-run double by Colton Klein. The Thunder got two runs back in the bottom of the second on a two-run single by Tyler Weiner. Wheaton scored three more in the fourth to take a 5-4 lead. Graham Core's RBI-double scored the first run in the fourth, followed by RBI-grounders off the bat of both Ben Weaver and Joe Klein.
Things got out of hand for Carthage in the fifth, as the Thunder kept pouring it on with an eight-run inning. Kyle Wu led off the frame with a triple and scored on a Nick Hamilton wild pitch, his third. Jacob Snyder walked, went to second on another Hamilton wild pitch and scored, one out later, on a Zach Ledbetter grounder. Following a Harrison Stanton single, Troy Siranovic replaced Hamilton on the hill. Weaver singled in a run off Siranovic, and Klein followed with a three-run home run. Jacob Pappagallo took over pitching duties for Siranovic, and Snyder, making his second plate appearance of the inning, singled in two runs for 13-4 Wheaton lead.
The Firebirds tallied a pair of runs in the sixth on a P.J. Moser RBI-double and a Collin Callahan sacrifice fly. Weaver singled in a run in the bottom of the sixth, and the Thunder led, 14-6. A Collin Callahan RBI-double in the Carthage eighth made it 14-7 to close out the scoring.
Bjorn Bostrum (1-1), the second-of-four Thunder hurlers, picked up the win. The losing pitcher was Nick Hamilton (0-7), who allowed the first eight runs on six hits, six walks, a hit batter and four wild pitches over four and two-thirds innings. Troy Siranovic relieved in the fifth, as did Jacob Pappagallo. Ben Massoglia worked the eighth inning and Troy Zastrow the ninth. Carthage's Cody Tostrud went two-for-five with a run scored and an RBI to cap off 10-for-16 weekend with four runs scored and three RBI.
Carthage plays host to non-conference opponent Concordia University (Wis.) in a Tuesday, April 19 twilight game at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis., beginning at 5 p.m.