St. LOUIS, Mo. – The Carthage College baseball team used a pair of strong pitching performances Saturday to open their weekend with a 2-0 start, as the Red Men topped Fontbonne University, 5-3 and 8-3.
The wins to open the three-game set moves the Red Men to 9-2 on the year, while Fontbonne falls to 8-8 in 2018.
Carthage 5, Fontbonne 3
In game one,
Kevin Tibor pitched a gem as the Red Men's ace moved to 3-0 on the season. Tibor went 8.1 allowing just one earned run and seven hits, while striking out five, walking three and allowing just a single extra base hit.
Tibor's performance was clutch as the Red Men scored just one run over the first seven innings as
Joe Sisk gave the Red Men a 1-0 lead in the second on a double to score
Vince Schwartz.
The Red Men added some much needed insurance runs in the eighth to take a 5-0 lead. Nick Pierece struck first with and RBI double to score
Ben Levicki and was followed by a
Ryan Dalton triple to drive in Pierce. Sisk delivered what proved to be the game-winning hit with a two-run home run, scoring Dalton.
Tibor went out for the complete game in the ninth, but after four of the first five reached and the Griffins put three across the plate, Tibor was lifted for closer Brian Polanski. After giving up a balk and a walk, Polanski retired the final two hitters for his third save of the season.
The Red Men finished with five runs on eight hits and committed a pair of errors, while Fontbonne scored three times on seven hits and did not commit an error.
Carthage 8, Fontbonne 3
After falling behind 1-0 early in game two, the Red Men responded with a three-run third. RBI's delievered by
Cody Phelps,
Nick Pierce and
Vince Schwartz gave the Red Men the lead that they would never relinquish.
The Red Men opened the lead up to 6-1 with an RBI single by reigning CCIW Player of the Week,
Colton Klein in the fourth, a second RBI by Schwartz in the fifth and a
Clayton Taylor RBI single in the sixth.
Starting pitcher
Nate Odahl improved to 2-0 on the season after throwing six innings of three-hit baseball, allowing three earned runs on three hits but walking five.
After the Griffins scored a pair in the sixth,
Joe Sambucci replaced Odalh in the seventh. Sambucci continued his strong season out of the bullpen with a nine-out save in which he allowed just two hits and a walk, while striking out a pair.
The Red Men added runs in the eighth and ninth off of solo home runs by Phelps and Dalton. For Dalton, it was his second of the season, while Phelps' was the first of the year for him.
The Red Men will look to complete the three-game sweep on Sunday in St. Louis, as Carthage faces the Griffins at 12:00 p.m. Live stats will not be available for Sunday's game.
