After a day's delay due to weather, the Carthage College baseball team (8-8, 1-1 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) opened its conference-schedule on Sunday, April 3 by splitting a twilight doubleheader with North Park University (7-11, 1-1 CCIW) at the Holmgren Athletic Complex in Chicago. Carthage drubbed North Park, 18-6, in the first game, but the Vikings upended the Red Men, 8-7 in 11 innings in the nightcap.
North Park scored four times in the first inning of the opener off starting pitcher
Jared Helmich, the big blow a three-run homer by Anthony Bragg. Carthage came back with six runs in the second inning, four off a grand slam home run by
Jordan Wiegold, to take a 6-4 lead. The Red Men added a run in the third on an
A.J. Kaprelian RBI-double to make it 7-4.
Matt Rave's RBI-single in the fourth upped the Red Men's lead to 8-4.
The Vikings got a run back in the fourth to cut the lead to 8-5, but Carthage took a 9-5 lead in the sixth on a
Jared Helmich RBI-single. After the Vikings pulled to within three, 9-6, in the sixth, the Red Men exploded for nine runs in the seventh to take a 18-6 lead.
Drew Korosic hit an RBI-single, followed by a two-run single by
Jared Helmich, an RBI-single by
Reed Hero, a two-run double by
Anthony Fortunato, a sacrifice fly by
Zach Wade and two-run double by Korosic, batting for the second time. The game was halted, due to a 10-run rule, after the Vikings batted in the bottom of the seventh.
Jared Helmich (2-0) was the winning pitcher. Helmich allowed five runs, four earned, on six hits, four walks and eight strikeouts over five innings.
Chris Pedrak too over in the sixth and limited the Vikings to one run over the final two innings. Brent Kessinger (1-4), the first-of-four North Park pitchers, took the loss.
Drew Korosic led Carthage's 17-hit attack by going two-for-four with three runs scored and three RBI.
Jordan Wiegold went two-for-six with four RBI,
Jared Helmich two-for-five with three RBI and
Reed Hero three-for-four with two runs driven in.
In the nightcap, Carthage took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on an RBI-single by
Jordan Wiegold. The Red Men tallied five runs in the fourth to make it a 6-0 contest.
Jared Knoespel hit a sacrifice fly, followed by a two-run triple by
Drew Korosic, an RBI-triple by
Jordan Wiegold and an RBI-single by
Jared Helmich. North Park scored in the sixth to cut the lead to 6-1, but an
Anthony Fortunato doubled in the seventh upped Carthage's lead to 7-1.
North Park scored six times in the seventh to tie the game, 7-7. A two on triple by Nate Simons was the big blow of the inning, and Anthony Bragg's double down the leftfield line tied the game. The Red Men loaded the bases with one out in the eighth, but
Reed Hero hit into an inning-ending double play. North Park put two runners on with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, but Mentkowski got B.J. Woolsey on an infield grounder to end the inning.
The Vikings scored the winning run in the bottom of the 11th inning when Woolsey received a base on balls from Mentkowski and scored on a single by Greg Grana and an error by Carthage shortstop Wiegold.
Pitcher
Chris DeRue started for the Red Men and gave up the first seven runs on 11 hits, a walk and seven strikeouts over six and one-third innings. He gave way to
Luke Mentkowski in the seventh. Mentkowski (1-2) only gave up the one run over four and one-third innings. Mario Creecy (2-1), the third-of-three North Park pitchers, picked up the win. The Red Men totaled 14 hits in the second game.
Drew Korosic went three-for-four with his fifth triple of the year and two RBI.
Jordan Wiegold went three-for-five with two RBI.
The two teams complete the three-game series with a single contest on Monday, April 4, beginning a 3:30 p.m. at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis.
