DECATUR, Ill. – The Carthage College Red Men snapped their three-game losing skid on Saturday, courtesy of the long ball, topping Millikin University to sweep the twin bill over the Big Blue.
 
The pair of wins move the Red Men to 26-8 on the season and remain in second in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin at 13-5, while Millikin falls to 16-19 on the season.
 
Game 1: Carthage 11, Millikin 10
Carthage opened with a thrilling come-from-behind win to take game one, even though ace Kevin Tibor earned a no decision.  Carthage and Millikin combined for 11 runs in the opening 2.5 innings, with the Red Men jumping out to 7-4 lead behind a two-run homer by Cody Phelps, an RBI sac fly by Colton Klein, a two-RBI double by Ryan Kramer and a pair of defensive errors by the Big Blue.
 
The Red Men extended their lead in the sixth on a two-run home run by Myles Farley to give the Red Men a 9-4 lead.  Tibor was lifted after seven innings allowing five runs on nine hits and striking out seven.
 
The lead quickly evaporated in the eighth as the Big Blue combined for five runs on three hits to take a 10-9 lead after eight.
 
In the ninth, Vince Schwartz saved the day for the Red Men, blasting the Red Men's third two-run homer of the game to give Carthage the 11-10 edge and Brian Polaski picked up the save following his second inning of work to move to 3-1.
 
Game 2: Carthage 9, Millikin 7
In another offensive battle, the Red Men used the long ball to prevail.  The game opened with a back and fourth affair that saw the Red Men down to the Big Blue 3-2 through four, with the Red Men's offense coming on a RBI triple by Nick Pierce and courtesy of an error off the bat of Ryan Dalton. 
 
Dalton was the beneficiary of another error in the fifth to tie the game at 3-3 and with the bases loaded, Clayton Taylor blasted a grand slam to give the Red Men a 7-3 lead.
 
Ryan Kramer tacked on two insurance runs in the eighth, which proved pivitol, as Millikin mounted a comeback with four in the eighth before Nate Odahl and David Woods shutdown the Big Blue.
 
Odahl picked up the win, going just .1 innings and David Woods picked up his third save of the season, working a scoreless ninth.   Matt Willett got  the start and was solid, allowing just three runs over four innings and Brandon Hanik threw 3.2 inning of middle relief allowing just five hits and one earned run.
 
The Red Men will look for the weekend sweep on Sunday, as Carthage and Millikin faceoff in the finale at noon in Decatur.