Box Score The Carthage College baseball team (1-0, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 14th in the March 13 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association/“D3baseball.com” poll, opened its 2012 season on Saturday, March 17 with a 14-1 thumping of NAIA Dakota Wesleyan University (10-13) at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz.  The Dakota Wesleyan game kicked off a nine-game spring trip to the Tucson Invitational.
 
Carthage broke a scoreless tie in the fourth inning on an RBI-grounder off the bat of Matt Richer.  The Red Men sent 13 men to the plate in the fifth and exploded for eight runs.  The Red Men scored on a two-run single by Tyler Eickmeyer, a sacrifice fly by Joey Aiello, a run-scoring single by Zach Kozlowski and an RBI-double by Richer.  Richer's double chased Dakota Wesleyan starting pitcher Mickey Grant from the game.  Nick McLimans replaced Grant, and Kyle Pusateri greeted him with an RBI-single.  Mike Wasche followed with an RBI-double and Kyle Frye an RBI-single, and the scores was 9-0.  The Red Men added an unearned run in the sixth for a 10-0 margin.  Carthage tacked on three runs in the seventh to run the score to 13-0.  Mike Gentile singled in the first two runs in the seventh, and Aiello drove in another on a fielder's choice.  The Tigers scored their lone run in the eighth, with the Red Men answering on an RBI-single by Marc Mantucca.
 
Red Men hurler Eric Rohe (Sr., Mundelein, Ill.) twirled a gem.  The righty allowed no runs on four hits and no walks over seven innings, while striking out six batters,  Mitch Lochen pitched the eighth inning and Jon Kleinmeyer the ninth.  Carthage collected 16 hits off four Dakota Wesleyan pitchers.  Tyler Eickmeyer (Sr., Kenosha, Wis./Somers-Shoreland Lutheran) went three-for-four with two runs scored and two RBI, while Kyle Frye and Mike Wasche had two hits apiece. 

“Playing a team with 20 or so games under their belt worried me,” admitted Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, “but the equalizer was Eric Rohe.  Dakota Wesleyan can swing the bat, and they've seen good pitching, but Rohe had them off-balance the whole time.  That gave us a chance to settle in and play.  Rohe has four pitches, and he knows how to pitch.  Their coach told me that they've seen harder throwers this season, but not a pitcher as good as Rohe.  We also caught them with their down-the-line pitching, and once the flood gates broke, things started happening."

"The real story, said Schmidt, "not even Rohe, was how good we played, defensively.  I haven't seen a Carthage team play defense like this in a long time, and a lot of that was freshman shortstop Drew Bailey (Naperville, Ill./Neuqua Valley).  He played about as good a shortstop today as I've seen in my coaching career.  He put on a show, and he may become the best defensive shortstop we've ever had.  He had the other team talking.  Bailey playing short has also allowed us to move Kyle Pusateri to third, and he made every play today.  Our pitcher are going to love this.  We haven't been the best defensive team around, by any means, the past few years.  Every team is different, and maybe defense will be this team's calling card.”

On Sunday, March 18, the Red Men were scheduled to play Wisconsin-Superior, but that game was rained out as a spring storm moved through the Southwest, bringing snow to the upper elevations.  Carthage plays Monday, March 19 games versus Luther College at 2 p.m. (all times MST) and Carleton College at 6 p.m.  On Tuesday, March 20, Carthage faces Hamline University at 11 a.m. 

On Wednesday, March 21, the Red Men play a makeup game with Wisconsin-Superior at 2 p.m.  On Thursday, March 22, Carthage takes on Carleton at 10 a.m. and No. 9 Eastern Connecticut State University at 2 p.m.  On Friday, March 23, the Red Men play a Noon game with Nebraska Wesleyan University.  The trip concludes on Saturday, March 24 with a 2 p.m. contest against Middlebury College.