KENOSHA, Wis. –Carthage College topped North Park University on Wednesday night in a must-win game at Augie Schmidt Field, as the Red Men defeated the Vikings, 3-0, behind a pitching gem from Chris DeRue.
 
The win keeps the Red Men's postseason hopes alive, improving to 20-16 and 12-10 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the Vikings falls to 14-23 and 7-14.
 
Chris DeRue picked up his second win of the season as the lefty earned a complete game shutout, allowing just three hits and a pair of walks, while striking out five.  In the 117-pitch outing, DeRue forced the Vikings to strand seven base runners with just two reaching third before escaping the trouble.
 
"Chris' performance tonight was what we needed with all these games down the stretch being so important," said head coach Augie Schmidt following the win.  "He came back tonight after not having the best outing at Augstana and we gave him the ball tonight and he went out there and gave us nine innings.  Now we can try and reload for a huge doubleheader with North Central here on Saturday.  But what a great outing.  That was one of the better pitching performances that I remember in a long time.  Having a guy throw a complete game shutout this time of year is huge at a point when you need guys to step up."
 
The Red Men did all their scoring in the fifth inning as Myles Farley led off the inning with a single and was moved to second on a Drew Korosic sacrifice bunt.  Following the second out of the inning, Graham Wick singled through the left side to score Farley and after a Matt Rave walk, Reed Hero delivered a two-out double to the left center wall to score Wick and Rave.
 
The Red Men will return to action for their final day of the regular season on Saturday, May 6th at Augie Schmidt Field as Carthage hosts North Central College in a doubleheader.  First pitch for game one is set for noon.