KENOSHA, Wis. – The Carthage College Red Men split with the Augustana College Vikings on Sunday at Augie Schmidt Field to claim their second College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin series of 2018, bouncing back from a game one loss, 7-5, to win game two, 3-1.
 
The split sends the Red Men to 5-1 in the CCIW and to 18-4 overall, while Augustana moves to 14-7 and 2-4 in the league.
 
"After Augustana won the first game, the freshman [Matt Willett] went out there and really pitched his tail off with nine great innings to win us a series," said head coach Augie Schmidt IV after the game two win.  "In the first game, we let it get away from us with a lot of mistakes and didn't play well.  But in this conference, if you can win a series, especially against a team that is nearly ranked in the top 25 and that was picked to finish second in the league, it's huge."
 
Game 1: Augustana 7, Carthage 5
Carthage pitching struggled in game one and the despite giving up ten walks and hitting two batters, the Red Men found themselves with a chance to tie and win the game late. 
 
After falling behind in the third, Vince Schwartz blasted his first homerun of the season to give Carthage a 2-1 lead in the fourth.  Augustana responded with two in the top of the fifth before Carthage tied the game in the bottom of the inning on a Cody Phelps RBI single to score Colton Klein.
 
Augustana then plated a run in the sixth and three in the seventh on a bases clearing double to give the Vikings a 7-3 lead.
 
In the ninth, the Red Men looked for a two-out rally with two on and got one run back on an RBI single by Colton Klein.  Next, Ryan Kramer drilled what would have been a walk-off homerun to left but the ball tailed foul to keep the Augustana lead in tact.  A few pitches later Mitch Malone closed the Red Men down for the save and the 7-5 win.
 
Game 2: Carthage 3, Augustana 1
In game two, Myles Farley provided all of the offense that the Red Men would need, as freshman Matt Willett dominated the Vikings on the mound. 
 
Farley, the Red Men's junior shortstop, opened the scoring for Carthage in the second with an RBI single to score Vince Schwartz and give the Red Men a 1-0 lead.  Two innings later, Farley provided a pair of insurance runs on a double down the left field line, scoring Ryan Dalton from third and Clayton Taylor all the way from first.
 
Matt Willett turned in one of the strongest pitching performances of the season for the Red Men as he moved to 3-1 on the season allowing just one run on four hits.  Willett was untouchable early and took a no-hitter into the sixth before allowing a two-out double to the Vikings. 
 
The freshman took a shutout into the ninth before and nearly got into early trouble, but Colton Klein recovered from crashing into the wall on a double by the Vikings' leadoff hitter to record the first out of the inning at third on a perfect relay from Klein to Ryan Kramer to Cody Phelps.  Augustana eventually got a run across as a throwing error with two outs gave the Vikings their only win of the game before Willett induced a game ending ground ball for the win.
 
Carthage will hit the road on Tuesday for another CCIW doubleheader, heading to northern Chicago for a pair of midweek games at North Park University.  First pitch for game one from the Holmgren Athletic Complex is set for 2:00 p.m.