On a day when the Carthage College baseball team (19-19, 11-10 College Conference of Illinois & Wisconsin) lost both ends a doubleheader to CCIW-opponent and No. 12 North Central College (28-8, 15-6 CCIW), there was still good news.  The Red Men were swept by the Cardinals, 6-3 and 7-6, on Saturday, May 7 at Zimmerman Stadium/Alumni Field in Naperville, Ill.  Carthage opened the series on Friday, May 6 with an 11-4 win over the Cardinals at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis. 
 
Despite the two losses on Saturday, the Red Men clinched the fourth seed in the CCIW Baseball Tournament on the basis of fifth-place Wheaton College (Ill., 23-17, 10-11 CCIW) losing to Illinois Wesleyan University (22-17, 13-8), 3-2, on Saturday at Jack Horenberger Field in Bloomington, Ill.  The site for this year's tournament won't be known until first-place Augustana College (Ill., 26-12, 14-6) plays its series finale on Sunday against Millikin University in Moline, Ill.  A Viking victory in that game would allow Augustana to play host to the tournament at Swanson Stadium/Brunner Field, beginning on Thursday, May 12.  Fourth-seeded Carthage will play the top-seeded team, either Augustana or North Central, in a first-round tournament game on Thursday, with third-seeded Illinois Wesleyan taking on the second seed in the other first-round contest.
 
In Saturday's opener, Carthage scored a run in the first inning when Jordan Wiegold landed on second base when a fly ball fell in between the North Central center and right fielders.  Wiegold advanced to third on a bunt and scored on an infield grounder off the bat of Jared Helmich.  The Cardinals came right back with three runs in the bottom half to take a 3-1 lead.  The Red Men tied the game, 3-3, in the second on a Texas League RBI-double by Anthony Fortunato and an RBI-single by Jordan Wiegold.  Bobby Smith drilled a two-run triple to the rightfield corner in the bottom of the second to give North Central a 5-3 lead, and a Nick Sotiros RBI-double in the fifth made it 6-3 to close out the scoring.
 
Bryan Polowy (5-1) was the winning pitcher for the Cardinals and limited the Red Men to three runs on seven hits and a walk over seven innings.  Nick Rogalski blanked Carthage over the final two innings to earn his third save.  Tim Sulik (3-4) took the loss, and he surrendered six runs on 12 hits and two walks over seven innings, with Alex Tinkoff working the eighth inning.  Jordan Wiegold led the Red Men with three hits in five trips.
 
North Central took a 2-0 lead in the first inning of the nightcap on an RBI-triple by Bobby Smith and a subsequent wild pitch that scored Smith from third.  Carthage pitcher Jared Helmich left the game with an elbow injury after two outs and 19 pitches in the first inning.  He was replaced by Kyle Cibrario.  "We'll know more later in the week about Jared," said Carthage coach Augie Schmidt IV.  "It was really unfortunate.  He was just trying to get some work in a game that really didn't mean that much, since he wasn't very sharp the last time around.  We're a little worried., but I think he'll be alright."
 
The Red Men cut the lead to 2-1 in the fourth inning on an RBI-double by Matt Rave.  Carthage scored twice in the fifth to take a 3-2 lead.  Ryan Kramer hit an RBI-single in the inning, and John Burkiewicz drove in a run with an infield grounder.  The Cardinals tied the game, 3-3, in the bottom of the fifth on an RBI-single by Sing Fong. 
 
The Red Men scored two in the sixth to re-gain the lead, 5-3.  Rave doubled in the first run in the sixth, with the second scoring on an infield error.  North Central took a 6-5 lead in the eighth with a three-run inning, with an RBI-single by Matt Sutherland providing the go-ahead run.  Carthage knotted things up, 6-6, in the top of the ninth on an RBI-single by Reed Hero.  In the bottom of the ninth, Carthage relief pitcher Luc DiMaso walked Bobby Smith to open the inning.  The next batter, Chris Hill, roped a double to right-center to score Smith with the winning run in a 7-6 game.
 
Nick Rogalski (1-1), who earned the save in the opening game, picked up the win in the nightcap by blanking the Red Men in the ninth.  Luc DiMaso (0-1), the fifth-of-five Carthage pitchers, took the loss.  Reed Hero and Matt Rave each had three hits for the Red Men.
 
"We had a chance to win that second game," said Schmidt, "but we played a few guys off the bench because of injuries, and that came back to haunt us in the end.  That whole second game was like a snapshot of our whole season.  I think we've blown 14 leads this year.  Now, we have a non-conference game tomorrow, and then we get ready for tournament baseball.  You're in this job for tournaments, and we're looking forward to it.  I think we match up really well.  We're excited to be in it, and it's a whole new season."
 
Carthage plays host to non-conference opponent Concordia University (Wis., 22-17) on Sunday, May 8 in a 1 p.m. contest, also at Augie Schmidt Field.