KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Red Men won their fourth game in three days on Monday, defeating Wheaton College in a game originally scheduled from early April, holding on to defeat the Thunder at Augie Schmidt Field, 7-6.
 
The win, which completes the season sweep of the Thunder, moves the Red Men to 28-8 on the season and to 15-5 in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin, while the fourth straight loss for Wheaton drops them to 14-22 and to 5-13 in the CCIW.
 
Carthage came out and scored a single run in each of the first four innings to give the Red Men a 4-1 lead after four innings.  After Wheaton added their second run in the sixth, the Red Men responded with a solo home run by Ryan Kramer and a two-run shot by Nick Pierce to extend the lead to 7-2 after six.
 
The three runs in the sixth proved to be key for the Red Men, as Wheaton got one back in the eighth and cut the deficit to one with three runs in the ninth, before Brian Polaski could shut the door with go-ahead run at the plate, striking out the Thunder cleanup hitter to preserve the win.
 
Pierce was one of three Red Men with three hits in the win, being joined by Kramer and Clayton Taylor.  Pierce went 3-3 with three RBIs and walked a pair of times to complete his perfect day at the plate.  Taylor and Kramer each had one RBI and Taylor also finished 3-3 in the win.
 
Senior Ian Maxeiner turned in one of his best outings of the season, as the starter allowed three runs on nine hits in his longest appearance of the season, hurling 8.0 innings to pick up his third win of the year.
 
The Red Men will return for their fifth game in four days on Tuesday, as Carthage once again heads to Augie Schmidt Field to closeout their season series with the Vikings of North Park University.  First pitch is set for 6:00 p.m.