KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College baseball team split their home opener doubleheader on Saturday, defeating Marian University 4-2 before falling in game two, 8-3.
The split sends the Red Men to 11-3 on the season, while Marian moves to 4-8. The loss in game two also snaps the Red Men's ten-game winning streak.
Carthage 4, Marian 2
The Red Men scored three runs in the sixth and added an insurance run in the eighth to take game one, 4-2.
After allowing an unearned run in the first,
Kevin Tibor settled in and worked five innings allowing just the one run on two hits and striking out two before being lifted in the fifth.
Carthage finally got on the board with a trio of runs in the sixth as
Cody Phelps and
Nick Pierce drove in the first two runs, and
Ben Levicki walked with the bases loaded to score Pierce.
After a Sabre's run in the seventh, Augie Schmidt pulled the right strings and pinch hit
Joe Godlevske, whom on the first pitch of his at bat drove a ball to right center to score
Vince Schwartz for the 4-2 lead.
Nate Odahl improved to 3-0 on the season with his first win out of the bullpen. Odahl went three innings allowing just one earned run and striking out two.
Brian Polaski worked a perfect ninth to earn his fourth save of the season.
Carthage 3, Marian 8
After a strong first two innings, freshman
Matt Willett ran into trouble in the third, allowing a three runs on three hits and hit a pair, ending his day after three. Unfortunately for Willett, the third would cost him the loss to drop to 1-1 on the season.
Carthage would finally get on the board in the bottom of the fourth, however Marian answered right back with four runs in the top of the fifth off of
Ian Maxeiner to put the Red Men in a 7-1 hole.
A two-run double by
Ryan Dalton in the fifth scored
Ryan Kramer and
Colton Klein, cutting the deficit to 7-3, but it would be the closest they would get as a Sabre run in the top of the seventh push their lead to the 8-3 final.
The Red Men will open College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin play on Wednesday, as Carthage heads to Waukesha, Wisconsin to face instate rival Carroll University. Wednesday's doubleheader is set to start at 1:00 p.m. with game two set for 4:00 p.m.