WHEATON, Ill. – The Carthage College baseball team took their first game of their series with Wheaton College on Friday afternoon, battling through some rain for a come-from-behind win against the Thunder on the road, 6-4.
 
The Red Men, currently ranked 26^th in the latest American Baseball Coaches Association poll, improve to 21-4 on the season and to 8-1 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while Wheaton falls to 13-12 and 4-6 in the league.
 
Kevin Tibor moved to 6-0 in seven starts on the season with the win, allowing four runs on ten hits in seven innings and striking out six.  David Woods and Brian Polanski shut the door on the Thunder, working two scoreless relief innings and Polanski tying for the single-season program record with his seventh save of the year.
 
After Nick Pierce gave the Red Men a 1-0 lead in the first, Wheaton bounced back for two runs in the bottom of the first and another in the third to take a 3-1 lead over the Red Men.  The score would remain that way until the seventh when the Carthage bats took advantage of the Thunder bullpen, scoring four runs on a pair of hits and taking advantage of two walks to take a 5-3 lead.  Cody Phelps drove Jake Marczuk home on a sacrifice fly and Nick Pierce reached on an error, scoring Colton Klein.  With two on and two out, Ryan Dalton delievered the biggest hit of the game, doubling down the left field line to score Ryan Kramer and Pierce.
 
The Red Men would add an insurance run in the eighth on a fielder's choice RBI to score pinch runner Jake Mitchell, who came in after a leadoff single by Joe Sisk in the inning.
 
Ryan Kramer and Vince Schwartz combined for four of the Red Men's eight hits in the win and left eleven on base but found the way to win.
 
Next up for the Red Men, Carthage will return to Wheaton on Saturday and try to get the second game of the series in, weather permitting.  First pitch from Lee Pfund Stadium is set for noon.