The Carthage College baseball team (16-16, 9-7 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) solidified its hold on fourth place in the league on Friday night, April 29 with a 5-4 win over conference-opponent Millikin University (15-16, 4-12 CCIW) at Sunnyside Park in Decatur, Ill.  With the win, combined with Wheaton College (Ill.) losing to North Park University, 7-5, on Friday, the Red Men have a two-game lead over both the Thunder (20-15, 7-9) and Elmhurst College (18-15, 7-9).
 
Carthage took  a 2-0 lead in the first inning on a Jared Helmich RBI-double and Matt Rave a sacrifice fly.  Millikin scored a run in the second on an infield grounder.  An RBI-double by John Burkiewicz in the fourth inning put the Red Men up, 3-1.  The Big Blue scored two in the fifth on an infield grounder and a wild pitch to tie the game, 3-3.  Carthage's Myles Farley scored on a wild pitch in the seventh to give the Red Men a 4-3 lead.  Millikin tied the game, 4-4, in the bottom of the seventh on another infield grounder.  Carthage took the lead, to stay, 5-4, in the eighth on an RBI-single by A.J. Kaprelian.
 
Pitcher Chris DeRue started for the Red Men and allowed four runs on six hits, two walks and nine strikeouts over six innings.  The win went to Luke Mentkowski (2-4), who blanked the Big Blue on one hit and four strikeouts over the final three innings.  Zak Owens (2-1), the second-of-three Millikin hurlers, took the loss.  Carthage and Millikin complete the three-game series on Sunday, May 1 with a 1 p.m. doubleheader at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis.