NAPERVILLE, Ill. – The Carthage College baseball team dropped their first College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game on Wednesday, as the Red Men fell at North Central College to the Cardinals, 11-6.
The loss snaps the Red Men's five-game winning streak and sends Carthage to 7-8 on the year and 1-1 in the CCIW. The win moves the Cardinals to 4-6 overall and 2-0 in the conference.
Carthage's starter,
Joe Nelson found his way out of jams early but was lifted after a leadoff walk in the fourth. Nelson finished the day with a no decision, allowing one three runs, one earned, on two hits while walking and striking out six.
The Red Men knocked North Central starter out after allowing four runs in one-third of an inning.
Matt Rave opened the scoring in the first with an RBI sacrifice fly to score
Drew Korosic. Three batters later,
Jordan Wiegold brought in
Jared Knoespel as a pitch hit Wiegold with the bases loaded. A walk to the next batter,
John Burkiewicz, drove in
Reed Hero extended the Red Men's lead to 3-0 and a sac fly by
Alex Letto to score
Zach Wade closed the book on the Cardinals starter.
Knoespel finished with Carthage's best day at the plate, going 4-5 and scoring three runs.
Reed Hero also had a strong day, going 3-3 with a run and two RBIs.
However, the Red Men bats cooled as the Russell Hoh, who came in, in relief of the Cardinals starter. Hoh came in and picked up the win as he went six innings allowing the Red Men to score just one run.
After tying the game in the fifth at 5-5, the Cardinals scored three runs in the sixth and seventh innings respectively to open up a 11-5 lead to seal the win.
Alex Tinkoff took the loss in a relief appearance to fall to 0-2 on the year.
The Red Men return to action on Saturday, April 1st as Carthage hits the road for a three-game series at Illinois Wesleyan University. First pitch to open Saturday's doubleheader is at 1:00 p.m.
