Box Score
The Carthage College baseball team (8-6, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 17th in the March 30 “D3baseball.com” poll, defeated Rockford College (5-4), 10-3, on Sunday, March 28 at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha, Wis.
Rockford took a 1-0 lead in the first inning off Carthage starting pitcher Bryan Kieffer. After the Regents put two runners on base with singles, Zach Kozlowski's fielding error at shortstop allowed a run to score. Rockford made it 2-0 in the third when Kyle Standridge reached on throwing error by Kozlowski, advanced to third on a pair of walks and scored on a double play. In the Carthage fourth, Nate Hughes led off with a single, stole second and scored on a double by Will Hodges. Hodges moved to third on an infield grounder and scored on an RBI-single by Matt Soderlund to tie the game, 2-2.
The Red Men loaded the bases in the fifth on a strikeout and wild pitch to Joey Aiello, a single by Hughes and walk to Josh Albers, but Soderlund popped to second base to end the threat. Carthage batted around in the sixth, scoring six times to break the 2-2 tie. Kozlowski singled, went all the way to third on a bunt single by Tyler Eickmeyer and scored on a single to left by Trevor Whately. Drew Roberts' bunt single loaded the bases, and Joey Aiello's sacrifice fly scored Eickmeyer. Hodges singled to right to score Whately from second. Josh Albers singled to right to score Roberts from second. Hodges scored on the front end of a delayed double steal, with Albers going to third on a throwing error, and Soderlund singled to right to score Albers.
The Red Men made it 9-2 in the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Aiello. The Regents scored a run in the eighth to make it 9-3. Carthage closed out the scoring in the eighth at 10-3 when Will Hodges doubled and went to third on a throwing error and scored on an infield grounder. Starting pitcher Bryan Kieffer (Sr., Hartland, Wis./Arrowhead worked the first four innings and allowed two unearned runs on four hits and two walks. Chris Krepline (Sr., Brillion, Wis./Reedsville, 3-0) entered the game in the fifth and picked up the win by limiting the Regents to one run on four hits and a walk, while striking out five batters. Danny Dahm (Jr., Morton Grove, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) pitched a scoreless ninth inning. Matt Bates (1-2) took the loss for Rockford. Will Hodges (Jr., Oak Park, Ill./Naperville-North) went three-for-five with two doubles, two RBI and a stolen base. Matt Soderlund (Jr., Racine, Wis./Washington Park) went two-for-five with three RBI.
“Things are a little scary at the moment,” said Carthage coach
Augie Schmidt IV, “because while we can beat anybody, we can also lose to anybody. We're on a little bit of a roller coaster at the moment. We've played a lot of people over the first 14 games, and we need to figure out how to go about things. I know we need to play better defense, and our pitching is not real strong this year.
Carthage travels to Elmhurst, Ill., on Friday, April 2 to open its CCIW-schedule with a Noon doubleheader against Elmhurst College (3-9, 0-0 CCIW) at Butterfield Park. On Saturday, April 3, the two teams play a Noon single game at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha, Wis.
