The Carthage College baseball team (22-7, 10-5 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) defeated non-conference opponent Aurora University (19-15), 5-3, on Wednesday, April 22 at Joe Bernard Field at Solfisburg Park. 
 
Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI-grounder off the bat of Drew Bailey.  Aurora tied the game with a run in the third, but Carthage's Zach Wade put the Red Men back up, 2-1, with a sacrifice fly in the fourth.  An RBI-single by John Burkiewicz in the seventh gave Carthage a 3-1 lead.  The Spartans scored two in the seventh, including a steal of home by Tanner Oymaian, to tie the game, 3-3.  With one out in the top of 10th inning, Carthage's Sean Carroll (Sr., New Lenox, Ill./Providence Catholic) hit a two-run homer to put the Red Men up, 5-3.
 
Carthage's Jared Helmich (Jr., Lake Villa, Ill./Fox Lake-Grant Community) extended his school-record hitting streak to 29 games with a single up the middle in the fourth inning.  Jared Knoespel (So., Rockton, Ill./Rockton-Hononegah) went four-for-five with two doubles and a triple.  Pitcher Joe Nelson (Fr., La Grange, Ill./Nazareth  Academy) started the game and allowed just one run on three hits, four walks and five strikeouts over the first six innings.  Dalton Sjong and Brandon Hrdlicka followed, with Luke Mentkowski (Jr., Greenfield, Wis./Whitnall, 2-0) picking up the win.  Mentkowski blanked the Spartans on one hit over the final two innings.  Henry Erickson (1-2) took the loss.
 
Carthage opens a key series with CCIW-opponent Illinois Wesleyan University (20-10, 10-5 CCIW) on Friday, April 24 with a 7 p.m. game at Jack Horenberger Field in Bloomington, Ill.  The two teams conclude the three-game set with a Saturday, April 25 doubleheader, beginning at Noon.