KENOSHA, Wis. – After two days of postponements and falling behind by eight runs, the Carthage College Red Men remained unbeaten in the College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin on Thursday with a win over the Bluejays of Elmhurst College in a wild game, 19-12.
With the win the Red Men improve to 16-3 on the season, 4-1 at Augie Schmidt Field and, most importantly, to 3-0 in the conference. Elmhurst falls to 12-7 and to 3-3 in the league.
"That was one wild baseball game, today," said head coach
Augie Schmidt IV after the win. "After we fall behind we bring
Ian Maxeiner in and despite giving up a home run in the same inning, he settles in and gives us four very strong innings. In the mean time with him shutting down Elmhurst, we come back and get a great win. What a comeback by our guys."
After tying the game up at 1-1 in the second, the Red Men quickly found themselves in a deep hole, as the Bluejays erupted for eight runs in the third to build a 9-1 lead. Elmhurst knocked Carthage starter
Kyle Damon after just 2.1 innings with four runs across and the bases loaded. The Bluejays weren't done with the Red Men in the inning, as Elmhurst singled home a run and added a sac fly before a two-out three run home run off
Ian Maxeiner.
From there however, Maxeiner was in control. Maxeiner then went the next four innings allowing just three hits and not allowing another run, giving the Red Men a chance to comeback and comeback they did.
In the fifth, Carthage finally figured out Elmhurst ace, Austin MacMillan, as the Red Men exploded for seven runs on six hits, including three runs with two outs following an error to extend the inning. Six different Red Men drove in runs in the inning, as
Ryan Kramer,
Cody Phelps,
Vince Schwartz,
Ryan Dalton and
Joe Sisk each drove in one and
Nick Pierce plated a pair.
Carthage scored three in the sixth and took the lead on a
Ryan Dalton ball to third that would have ended the inning but was safe after a throw in the dirt. Schwartz and Sisk added the other RBIs in the inning.
After three more for Carthage in the seventh, the Red Men hung another trio on the Bluejays with a homer by
Myles Farley to start the inning and RBIs by Pierce and Dalton to give Carthage a 14-9 lead.
Three runs in the eighth for Elmhurst cut the lead to just two at 14-12, but the Red Men answered with five runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
Colton Klein manufactured a run to start things off with a walk and a steal of second that he moved to third on after a throwing error. Klein finished his trip around the bases after a wild pitch to
Cody Phelps scored the outfielder. After another Schwartz RBI later in the inning,
Ryan Dalton blasted his team best sixth home run of the season with a three-run shot.
Dalton finished the day 4-6 with five RBIs and a pair of runs scored to lead Carthage at the plate. Pierce, Schwartz and Sisk each added three-hit games to help the cause.
The 18-3 run to close out the game for the Red Men gave them their highest run output of the season and earned
Ian Maxeiner his second win of the season to move to 2-0.
Brian Polaski worked the final two innings for Carthage in a non-save situation.
Carthage returns to action at Augie Schmidt Field for a three-game set with the Vikings of Augustana College. The weekend will start with a doubleheader on Saturday beginning at 1:00 p.m. and will conclude on Sunday with a game at noon.
