No. 22 Carthage (29-10, 14-7 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked third in the May 12 NCAA Division III Central Region poll, won the CCIW Baseball Tournament on Sunday, May 15 with an 11-1 win over North Central, Ill. (22-17) at The Corn Crib in Normal, Ill.
Sunday's game was originally supposed to be played on Saturday, May 14 at Illinois Wesleyan University's Jack Horenberger Field, but was postponed and moved due to wet grounds. With the win, Carthage receives the automatic qualifier to the NCAA Division III Baseball Championship. The Red Men will likely be assigned to either the UW-Whitewater regional or the Illinois Wesleyan regional.
Carthage took a 4-0 lead in the first inning off North Central starting pitcher Michael McGrath. Will Hodges hit an RBI-double. Following an a fielding error by shortstop Alex Khoury, Matt Soderlund doubled in two more runs, and John Hasser singled in one for the 4-0 margin. Joey Aiello launched a two-run home run in the second, and the Red Men led, 6-0. Tyler Eickmeyer hit a solo shot in the fourth to make it 7-0. North Central got on the scoreboard in the seventh on a solo homer by Brennan Hagensee. Hodges singled in a run in the eighth to up Carthage's lead to 9-1. Brian Huntsinger hit a two-run double in the ninth, and the Red Men led, 11-1.
Eric Rohe (Jr., Mundelein, Ill., 6-2) went the distance for Carthage and limited North Central to one run on seven hits and one walk, while striking out a career-high 13 batters. Michael McGrath (2-3) took the loss. Will Hodges (Sr., Oak Park, Ill./Naperville-North) went three-for-five with a double, his eighth home run and three RBI. Joey Aiello (Jr., Libertyville, Ill.) went two-for-five with a home run and two RBI and Billy Herrin two-for-five with four runs scored.
"This was as good as we could do," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV. "We came down here with some difficult weather circumstances and went 3-0 to win the tournament. Our conference is a good one, and winning a conference tournament is special, because it's hard to do. The first two games were difficult. Today, we got some offense, and Eric Rohe did a great job on the mound. We got ahead early, and I think that took the wind out of North Central. I'm glad we were able to settle this on the field and finish the tournament. We did it the right way, and we're happy as heck to be representing the CCIW in the NCAA regionals this week. I think we're clicking a little bit better. We're getting used to not having Mike Petti in the lineup. We know a little bit more about how to deal with that injury, and I think our pitching really stepped up in the tournament. From here, it only gets tougher—we know that."