Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 The Carthage College baseball team (5-7, 0-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin), ranked 29th in the March 27 National Collegiate Baseball Writers Association/“D3baseball.com” poll, opened its conference schedule on Saturday, March 31 by losing both ends of a doubleheader to North Central College (11-4, 2-0 CCIW), 3-2 and 8-1, at Zimmerman Stadium/Alumni Field in Naperville, Ill.
 
In the opening game, Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an unearned run.  North Central scored twice in the third on a two-run single by Sam Carius to go up, 2-1.  After the Red Men tied the game, 2-2, in the top of the fifth on a Joey Aiello single, the Cardinals came back with a run in the bottom half on an RBI-single by Joe Paparone.  North Central pitcher Kris Singh (3-0) allowed just two unearned runs on nine hits and one walk over eight innings to earn the win, with Tyler Herman working a scoreless ninth inning to pick up his second save.  Aiello and Zack Kozlowski each had two hits for the Red Men.  Eric Rohe (Sr., Mundelein, Ill., 1-1) took the loss and allowed three runs on seven hits and a walk, while striking out 10 batters.
 
North Central broke a 1-1 tie with a four-run seventh inning in the nightcap.  Carius singled in two runs in the seventh, with the other two scoring on an error and a wild pitch,  the Cardinals tacked on three more runs in the eighth, two on a single by Paparone, for the final, 8-1 margin.  Jon Rashid (2-1) was the winning pitcher.  He limited Carthage to one run on four hits and three walks over eight innings.  Danny Dahm (Sr., Morton Grove, Ill./Skokie-Niles West) took the loss and surrendered five runs, three earned, on six hits and three walks over seven innings.  The two teams conclude the three-game series with a 1 p.m. single game on Sunday, April 1 at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha, Wis.