Box Score

In a year of comebacks, the Carthage baseball team (29-18) almost made a big one. The Red Men, ranked 36th in the final, regular-season “D3baseball.com” poll, took defending-national-champion and No. 5 the University of St. Thomas (35-8) down to the wire on Friday, May 21 in the third round of the NCAA Division III Midwest Regional at Wisconsin-Whitewater's Prucha Field/Miller Stadium in Whitewater, Wis. St. Thomas (Minn.) wound up eliminating Carthage from the regional, 7-5. 

Counting Friday's game, three of Carthage's last four NCAA games have been against St. Thomas. “We keep playing them,” said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, “and they have such a great program. We always battle against them, but we just can't seem to get it done.” With the win, the Tommies advanced to a Friday afternoon semifinal game against No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater (40-6). The Warhawks defeated the Tommies (35-9), 5-4, in that semifinal contest. No. 3 Wisconsin-Whitewater (41-6) with play No. 28 Wisconsin-Stevens Point (32-15) in the championship round on Saturday, May 22 at Noon,

Carthage got off to a rough start in Friday's St. Thomas game--it was 4-0 Tommies before Carthage pitcher Scott Danly recorded an out in the first inning. Matt McQuillan led off the game with a sharp single to left-center, and Matt Olson reached base on an error by shortstop Tyler Eickmeyer. The next batter, Tom Wippler, launched a three-run home run to left, and cleanup hitter Roy Larson hit solo shot to left-center. Carthage had the bases loaded with one out in the second inning off starting pitcher Matt Nelson, but Matt Soderlund into a shortstop-to-second double play to end the threat.

After being handcuffed by Olson for the first three innings, the Red Men unloaded for five runs in the fourth. With one out, Mike Petti singled, and Will Hodges doubled. Zach Kozlowski followed with an RBI-single to score Petti. Billy Herrin singled in Hodges, and Matt Soderlund singled to load the bases. Tyler Eickmeyer grounded out, but Trevor Whately drilled a double off the right-center fence to clear the bases for a 5-4 lead. The Tommies tied the contest, 5-5, in the fifth on a solo homer by Tom Wippler, his second of the game. St. Thomas took the lead to stay, 6-5, in the sixth when John Bauer scored from second on a single to left by Matt Olson.

Pitcher Scott Danly (4-3) went the first five and two-thirds innings and allowed six runs, four earned, on 10 hits and two walks. Danly gave way to Chadd Ori in the sixth. The Tommies loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth off Ori, but Roy Larson grounded out to short to end the inning. Carthage loaded the bases with two outs in the eighth off Matt Olson and relief pitcher Brandon Stone, but Stone induced a ground ball from Trevor Whately to end the inning. The Tommies picked up a big insurance run in the top of the ninth when Charles Bruchu singled, stole second, advanced to third on a grounder and scored on a single by Brady Field. Matt Nelson (7-0) was the winning pitcher. Nelson allowed five runs on 13 hits and a walk. Brandon Stone earned his eighth save. Tom Wippler went two-for-three with four RBI to lead the Tommies, while Carthage's Trevor Whately went two-for-five with three RBI.

“We got a little unlucky early in the game,” said Schmidt, “but we had our chances. Hitting into a double play with the bases loaded in the second took the wind out of us for awhile, but we battled back, like we always do. We made a game of it, and we were just one swing away from winning the game. We battled their lefty starter, Matt Nelson, pretty good, but the reliever, Brandon Stone, gave us some trouble late. What I'm going to remember about this team is their willingness to help the cause and help us win games. We lost our half of our pitching staff before the season even started. We lost our starting shortstop in January, and we lost some more guys to injuries down the stretch. Of those still standing, they all rose to occasion and gave us the effort we needed to continue what we are. We made a good showing in the conference tournament, we did a good job in the NCAA regional, and that's a pretty good year, even if our 29-18 record doesn't ;look like it. In the middle of the season, I thought we might have one of those years that could have been. I don't think it was like that at all. By doing well in the conference tournament and making a good showing in the regional, those kind of things keep the tradition alive. I think we wrung about as much out of this team as we could. We had a good year, and I'm proud of that.”

Carthage lost to St. Thomas, 14-6, on Wednesday, May 19 in a first-round game. In the other first-round contests, Wisconsin-Whitewater defeated Aurora University, 6-1, with Wisconsin-Stevens Point upending No. 8 the College of St. Scholastica, 12-1. On Thursday, May 20, Carthage eliminated Aurora (27-16), 10-5, with Wisconsin-Whitewater eliminating St. Scholastica (38-8), 6-2, and Wisconsin-Stevens Point edging St. Thomas by a 2-1 margin. On Friday, May 21, Wisconsin-Stevens Point (32-15) defeated Wisconsin-Whitewater in the “undefeated game” to advance to the championship round. In the Saturday, May 22 championship round, Wisconsin-Whitewater won the first game, 9-3, but Wisconsin-Stevens Point (33-16) prevailed over Wisconsin-Whitewater (42-7), 4-3, in the final game.