KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Red Men completed the season sweep of their College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin in-state rival, Carroll University, at Augie Schmidt Field on Saturday, topping the Pioneers 4-3 and 5-2.
 
The two victories to open the weekend move the Red Men to 16-13 overall and 8-7 in the CCIW, while the Pioneers fall to 9-21 and 4-11 in the conference.
 
"Rodgers got a huge hit when we needed it in the first game and DeRue pitched great," said head coach Augie Schmidt following the sweep.  "We had two good pitching performances but so did Carroll.  These were two good college baseball games a bit more like they are supposed to be played.  Finally we were able to come out on top after giving a lot of the close games away earlier this season.  It was nice to be on the winning end."
 
Game 1: Carthage 4, Carroll 3 (11 innings)
Designated hitter Ryan Rodgers came up clutch in the bottom of the 11th inning with the game tied at 3-3, as the righty blasted a solo homerun over the left field wall for the walk-off win.  Rodgers finished the game 3-5 with a single, a double and the homer.
 
Starter Chris DeRue settled in after allowing two first inning runs to the Pioneers, finishing the day going 8.0 innings allowing just three runs, two of which were earned, while striking out four.
 
Carthage struck back quickly with a Reed Hero RBI single in the bottom of the first to cut the deficit in half and then took their first lead of the day on a Graham Wick two-RBI single in the fourth.
 
Carroll would tie it at three in the fifth and it would stay that way until the 11th.
 
Carroll threatened with two outs in the inning as the Pioneers loaded the bases off Alex Tinkoff, but Colin Dresen came in and struck out Mike Jerik on a 3-2 fastball to end the threat and set up the dramatic finish for the Red Men. 
 
Dresen took the win and moves to 1-0 on the season.
 
Game 2: Carthage 5, Carroll 2
Game two saw the Red Men never fall behind as Matt Rave hit a two-out solo homerun in the first to give Carthage the early lead.  The Red Men would add two on top of their lead in the third behind a pair of RBI singles by Jordan Wiegold and Rave to push the lead to 3-0.
 
It was more than enough run support for Carthage's Tim Sulik, who picked up the complete game win to move to 5-2 on the year.  Sulik allowed just one earned run and struck out eight, while not allowing a walk in the aces performance.
 
Carthage tallied nine hits in the win including three from first baseman Reed Hero, who added an RBI singles in the eighth, to extend the Red Men's best hitting streak of the season to 17 straight games.
 
"Reed has been hot for a long time and he is one of the better hitters around Division III.  His success hasn't surprised me.   He is locked in and we are kind of riding him at this point in the season.  Earlier in the year we were riding Rave and now it has shifted to Reed.  But we don't get to enjoy this very long with two tomorrow."
 
The Red Men return to action for their second double header of the weekend on Sunday, as Carthage heads to the north side of Chicago for a pair of games at North Park University.  First pitch is set for noon on Sunday.