The Carthage College baseball team (16-4, 8-1 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 14th in the April 12 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association /"D3baseball.com" poll, swept a doubleheader from CCIW-opponent Wheaton College (Ill., 9-16, 1-8 CCIW), 20-10 and 10-2, on Wednesday, April 13 at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha, Wis. The Red Men remain in first place in the league.

Carthage fell behind, 4-0, in the first inning. Starting pitcher Matt Martinski walked the bases loaded, and Trey Martin made him pay with a grand-slam home run. Joey Aiello singled in a run in the bottom half of the inning, and Will Hodges followed with a two-run homer to cut the lead to 4-3. Matt Soderlund's towering home run in the second tied the game, 4-4. Mike Petti hit a solo shot in the third, and Kyle Pusateri followed with an RBI-double. Pusateri wound up scoring on a wild pitch and Josh Albers on an infield error, giving the Red Men an 8-4 lead. Zach Kozlowski hit a two-run single in the fourth, and Carthage led, 10-4.

Carthage came up with a five-run fifth inning to take a 15-4 lead. John Hasser's pinch-hit three-run homer was the big blow in that inning. The Thunder scored five times in the sixth on two hits, three hit batters and a balk to pull to within six runs, 15-9. Petti struck again with an opposite-field, three-run homer in the sixth that gave the Red Men an 18-9 margin. Wheaton scored a run in the sixth to make it 18-10. Will Hodges led off the seventh with his second home run, and Pusateri followed with another solo shot to give the Red Men a 20-10 lead and ending the game on a 10-run rule.

Carthage hit seven home runs in the game, two shy of a school record. Mike Petti (Sr., Mundelein, Ill.) went four-for-five with five runs scored, which tied a Carthage game record, four RBI, a double and two home runs. Will Hodges (Sr., Oak Park, Ill./Naperville-North) went three-for-five with three runs scored, three RBI, a double and two home runs, and Matt Soderlund (Sr., Racine, Wis./Washington Park ) went three-for-four with a home run. Matt Martinski (So., Des Plaines, Ill./Elk Grove, 2-1) picked up the win, despite giving up seven runs on six hits over five innings. Bill Montemayor and Jeremy Salzman followed. Steve Dennison (1-4) took the loss for the Thunder.

Carthage took a 3-0 lead in the opening inning of the nightcap. Billy Herrin homered, Carthage's eighth round-tripper on the day, and Eric Barber singled in two runs. The Red Men scored twice in the second on a sacrifice fly Joey Aiello that scored Josh Albers, with Billy Herrin also scoring on the play on an errant throw from the outfield. Wheaton cut the lead to 5-1 in the sixth on a solo homer by Steven Harrison.

The Red Men upped their lead to 8-1 in the bottom of the sixth. Mike Petti singled in two runs and Zach Kozlowski hit a sacrifice fly. Danny Pyne drove in a run for the Thunder in the seventh on an RBI-grounder, and Carthage led, 8-2. Matt Soderlund's sacrifice fly in the seventh made it 9-2, and Dan Bartosik's pinch-hit, RBI-single in the eighth closed out the scoring at 10-2.

Starting pitcher Andrew Arenson (Fr., Naperville, Ill./North, 1-0) blanked the Thunder on four hits and two walks over five innings. Arenson's brother, Nate, was the starting pitcher in North Central College's 8-7 loss to Carthage on Sunday in Naperville, Ill. Luke Watson entered the game in the sixth in relief of Andrew Arenson, and Michael Sanchez followed in the eighth. Phillip Tuttle (1-1), the first of three Thunder hurlers, took the loss.

The Red Men collected 15 hits in the nightcap. Bill Herrin (Sr., Galesburg, Ill.) went three-for-five with three runs scored and an RBI. Mike Petti went two-for-five with a run scored and two RBI to close out a six-for-10 day with six runs scored, a double, two home runs and six RBI.

On Saturday, April 16, the Red Men open a three-game series with CCIW-opponent and No. 15 Augustana College (Ill.) with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field in Moline, Ill. The two teams conclude the series with a Noon game on Sunday, April 17.