Box Score The return of head coach Augie Schmidt IV from a five-game suspension wasn't enough to prevent the Carthage College baseball team (7-13, 2-6 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) from getting swept by CCIW-opponent and No. 23 Augustana College (Ill., 17-4, 5-2) on Sunday, April 7, as the Vikings defeated the Red men, 4-2, at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field in Moline, Ill. 

Augustana (Ill.) won both ends of a Saturday, April 6 doubleheader, 15-4 and 5-2, as Schmidt sat out the final two games of a five-game suspension for violation of two NCAA rules.
 
Carthage fell behind Augustana in the early innings for the third-straight game.  Grant Stewart doubled in a run in the first inning off Red Men starting pitcher Marc Mantucca (Jr., Naperville, Ill./Central, 0-2), and the Vikings scored two runs in the second on an error by shortstop Drew Bailey.  RBI-singles by Kyle Pusateri in the sixth and Mantucca in the eighth made it 3-2, but Mark VanNatta singled home a run for the Vikings in the bottom of the eighth to give Augustana its final, 4-2 margin. 

Mantucca gave up three runs, just one earned, on eight hits and no walks over seven innings.  Sam Wilhelms worked the eighth inning.  Augustana's Ben Heaton (4-1) scattered eight hits over seven and two-thirds innings, also with no walks.  Rick Erickson pitched a one-two-three inning in the ninth to earn his third save.  Pusateri and Mantucca both went two-for-four with an RBI each.
 
The Red Men, who have lost eight of their last 10 games, travel to Mequon, Wis., on Tuesday, April 9 to play Concordia University (Wis.) in a 3 p.m. game at Kapco Field.