The Carthage College baseball team (26-9, 14-6 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 20th in the May 2 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association /"D3baseball.com" poll and fourth in the May 5 NCAA Division III Central Region poll, split a Saturday, May 7 doubleheader with CCIW-opponent No. 26 North Park University (28-10, 13-6 CCIW). North Park won the opening game, 13-6, but Carthage broke a 2-2 tie in the eighth inning of the nightcap to win by a 3-2 margin.
Combined with Illinois Wesleyan University's 15-0 and 8-0 sweep at North Central College on Saturday, Carthage and Illinois Wesleyan go into the final day of the season tied for first place with 14-6 records. Should the Red Men and the Titans finish in a first-place tie, the two teams would be crowned as co-champions, but Illinois Wesleyan would play host to the CCIW Baseball Tournament based on winning two-of-three from Carthage on April 23. The Red Men and the Vikings conclude their three-game series with a 1 p.m. a single game on Sunday, May 8 at the Holmgren Athletic Complex in Chicago.
North Park jumped on starting pitcher Mario Perez (Sr., Gurnee, Ill./Warren Township) for three runs in the top of the first in the opening game. Trevor Popp led off the game with a sharp double over the third-base bag, and Eric Sousanes singled him to third. Popp scored on a sacrifice fly by Mike Domenick, and Brad Medina followed with a two-run home. The Vikings went up, 5-0, in the fourth on a two-run homer by Angel Carrasco. Zach Kozlowski got the Red Men on the board in the fourth with an RBI-grounder, and Kyle Pusateri followed with an RBI-single to make it 5-2. Zach Deutscher's two-run double in the fifth, along with a sacrifice fly by Mike Sommerfield, put the Vikings up by six, 8-2.
Kozlowski singled in a run in the bottom of the fifth to cut the lead to 8-3. In the sixth, North Park loaded the bases on two hit batters and an error by Red Men third baseman Josh Albers. Brad Medina followed with a two-run single, and the Vikings led by seven, 10-3. The Vikings added a run in the seventh for an 11-3 lead. Carthage's Matt Soderlund connected on a two-run homer in the bottom of the seventh to make it 11-5. North Park scored twice in the ninth for a 13-5 lead, and the Red Men scored once in the bottom of the ninth to close out the scoring at 13-6.
Steve Kuligowski (7-2) was the winning pitcher in the first game. He allowed five runs on 11 hits and three walks over the first seven innings. Mario Perez (3-3) took the loss and surrendered five runs on eight hits over four innings. Tyler Johansen and Jeremy Salzmann followed. Brad Medina went three-for-five with four RBI to pace the Vikings. Will Hodges and Matt Soderlund each went three-for-four, with Soderlund driving in two runs.
North Park scored an unearned run in the second inning of the nightcap to take a 1-0 lead. Carthage scored twice in the third with two outs to take a 2-1 lead. A two-out fielding error by Vikings second baseman Eric Sousanes opened the door for the Red Men in the third. The Vikings tied the game, 2-2, in the seventh when Wade Yunker scored from second base on a fielder's choice grounder to first base. On the play, shortstop Kyle Pusateri threw the ball away on an attempted double-play relay to pitcher Danny Dahm, who was covering first. The Red Men broke the tie in the eighth. Billy Herrin walked, Joey Aiello singled, and Will Hodges walked to load the bases. Matt Soderlund followed with a sinking fly ball to medium leftfield that was caught but deep enough for Herring to score from third with the go-ahead run.
Pitcher Danny Dahm (Sr., Morton Grove, Ill./Skokie-Niles West, 4-0) went the distance and limited the Vikings to two unearned runs on seven hits and two walks. Pete Sparacino (6-2) took the loss. Joey Aiello (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.) went two-for-four with an RBI for the Red Men.
"If we win on Sunday at North Park," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "we're at least co-champions, and that's a good thing. I felt like North Park out-played us today, although we did just enough to get by in the second game. We got beat up pretty good in the first game. Mario Perez wasn't sharp today, and it showed. North Park is a good team. They have 11 seniors, and they've been around. You have to be sharper than we were to beat them. Danny Dahm gave us what we needed in the second game, giving up just two unearned runs and going nine innings. I don't remember a winner-take-all game on the last day of the season—it should be fun."