Box Score The Carthage College baseball team (14-14, 6-9 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) saw its hopes for a CCIW Baseball Tournament berth take a hit with Elmhurst College (11-17, 6-9) sweeping a three game-series on Friday-Saturday, April 18-19.  On Good Friday, April 18, the Bluejays swept a doubleheader from the Red Men, 7-2 and 7-1, at Butterfield Park in Elmhurst, Ill.  Elmhurst completed the series sweep with a 12-2 decision on Saturday, April 19 at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis.  The last Elmhurst series sweep over Carthage came in the 2004 season.
 
The Red Men, now tied for sixth place with the Bluejays, have a series remaining with Augustana College (Ill.) on April 25-26 and one with North Central College on May 2-3.
 
Elmhurst broke a scoreless tie in the third inning on a two-run home run to left-center field by Dave Wolak, his eighth of the year, off starting pitcher Marc Mantucca.  Carthage loaded the bases with one out in the third inning, but Mike Merritt struck out swinging, and Brian Huntsinger popped to shortstop to end the inning. The Bluejays made it a 3-0 game in the sixth on back-to-back doubles to the leftfield corner by Greg Struck and Luke Collins.  Elmhurst added three runs in the seventh on four singles and two outfield errors to take a 6-0 lead. 
 
The Red Men got two runs back in the bottom of the seventh on a sacrifice fly by Mike Pugliese and an RBI-single by Marc Mantucca.  The Bluejays, however, wound up scoring nine runs over the last three innings, including a four-run eighth frame and two runs in the ninth for the final, 12-2 margin.  Elmhurst collected 17 hits off five Carthage pitchers, with Dave Wolak going four-for-six with three runs scored and four RBI.  Carthage's Mike Pugliese (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Wheaton-St. Francis) went two-for-four with an RBI.  Justin Theisen (2-4) was the winning pitcher, as he allowed two runs on five hits, four walks and six strikeouts over the first six innings.  Ivan Nevarez  blanked Carthage on three hits over the final three innings to earn his first save.  Marc Mantucca (Sr., Naperville, Ill./Central, 1-3) took the loss and gave up the first five runs, four earned, on nine hits over six innings.
 
Carthage plays host to non-conference opponent Aurora University (10-23) on Wednesday, April 23 in a 3 p.m. game at Augie Schmidt Field.  In a schedule note, Carthage has added a home, non-conference doubleheader to its schedule on Thursday, April 24 with Marian University (Wis.), beginning at 3 p.m.