Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 | Box Score 3 | Box Score 4 The Carthage College baseball team (6-5, 0-0 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) ended its spring trip to the Tucson Spring Invitational on Wednesday morning, March 26 with a 6-3 loss to Luther College (6-4) at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz.
 
Carthage opened the seven-game trip by winning the first three contests on Friday and Saturday, March 21-22.  On Friday, March 21, Carthage defeated Gustavus Adolphus College (2-2), 12-8.  On Saturday, March 22, the Red Men nipped Claremont-Mudd-Scripps College (7-16), 7-6, in the morning before knocking off No. 13 California Lutheran University (15-5), 5-4, in the afternoon.  The Red Men lost to Buena Vista University (8-1), 16-2, on Sunday, March 23, and then lost to Carleton College (4-3), 13-9, on Monday, March 24.  On Tuesday, March 25, Carthage edged Middlebury College (1-4) by a 4-3 margin.
 
In the Luther game, an RBI double by Matt Cmiel in the second gave Carthage an early, 1-0 lead, but a misplayed bunt in the fourth inning opened the door for two Luther runs and a 2-1 Norse advantage.  A throwing error on a stolen-attempt at third base in the fifth led to a couple more runs, and Luther led, 4-1.  The Red Men got a run back in the bottom of the fifth on an fielder's choice-RBI off the bat of Marc Mantucca.  The two teams traded runs in the seventh, with Carthage scoring on a RBI-single by Brian Huntsinger, leaving he Norse with a 5-3 lead.  Luther scored once in the top of the ninth for the final, 6-3 margin.
 
Norse starting pitcher Phillip Lapointe (2-0) limited the Red Men to three runs on 11 hits and a walk over seven innings.  Andrew Withers blanked Carthage over the final one and two-thirds innings to earn his first save.  Tim Sulik (Fr., Milwaukee, Wis./Pius XI, 1-1) pitched the first five innings for the Red Men and allowed four runs, three earned, on nine hits and no walks.  Czenvic Rojer led the Norse by going four-for-five with an RBI.  Matt Richer and Nick Schmdlkofer each had two hits for Carthage.  The Red Men left 11 runners on base.
 
"We left the door open," admitted Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV, "and at the plate, it was more of the same.  "We get guys on base, but we can't do anything with it.  Our hitters are tightening up, and we're not getting good swings.  It's been the same thing for the last three days.  We got good pitching today from freshman Tim Sulik and some other guys.  We had good enough pitching to win.  Our nemesis right now is not getting good at bats with runners in scoring position.  Its' been a decent trip-we've done some good things, but we have some question marks.  Its' going to be interesting this year to see if we can enough runs to win some games.  We haven't had that problem in a long time.  We have Illinois Wesleyan and North Park right out of the chute this weekend and next Tuesday.  It's going to be tough, but I guess you have to play them sometime."
 
Carthage opens at home on Saturday, March 29 by playing host to CCIW-opponent Illinois Wesleyan University (5-7, 0-0 CCIW) in a 1 p.m. single game at Augie Schmidt Field.  The two teams will conclude the three-game series with an 11 a.m. twinbill on Sunday, March 30.