Sunday was another Carthage baseball comeback that got away. The Red Men (9-8, 1-2 College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin) overcame a 6-0 deficit but wound up on the short end of a 10-6 game with CCIW-opponent Elmhurst College (7-8, 2-1) at Augie Schmidt Field in Kenosha, Wis. The two teams split a Saturday doubleheader at Butterfield Park in Elmhurst, Ill., with Carthage winning the first game , 9-0, before dropping the nightcap by a 6-3 margin.
On Sunday, Elmhurst jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top half of the first, two of those runs scoring before Carthage starting pitcher
Pasquale Atteo recorded an out. The first run scored on an. RBI-double by Jacob McMillan and the second on an RBI-single by Jordan Scrimpsher With two outs, Karson Thomas drove in a third run, also with a single.
Meanwhile, Bluejays pitcher Jay Palmer allowed only a walk and hit batter only thru the first four innings. An RBI-double by Tyler Kledzik in the fifth upped the Elmhurst lead to 4-0 and chased Atteo from the game.
Kyle Damon relieved, but Chad Tucker greeted him with a single off Damon's glove and up the middle to score two runners for a 6-0 lead.
Ben Levicki broke up Palmer's no-hit with a home run to lead off in the fifth. Carthage loaded the bases with two outs in sixth, and Luke Beckmanm drove home a run with a single to left.
Johnny Belskis followed with a two-run double deep to left to make it 6-4, with Beckmann thrown out at the plate trying to score from first.
Myles Farley singled in a run in the eight to make it a one-run game, 6-5. Farley's hit chased Jay Palmer, with Fred Birr replacing him. Beckmann greeted Birr with a triple to right center, scoring Farley to tie the game, 6-6.
Kevin Johlie opened the Elmhurst ninth with a single to third that Carthage third baseman
Cody Phelps turned into a throwing error, allowing Johlie to take an extra base. A sacrifice bunt moved Johlie to third, and
Brian Polaski relieved Damon. McMillan hit a line shot right over
Vince Schwartz' glove at first base and just inside the foul line for a double to score the go-ahead run. Polaski walked Chad Tucker to force in a run, the Bluejays led, 8-6. Karson Thomas singled in two more for a 10-6 margin.
In the bottom of the ninth, with Alec Berry pitching for the Bluejays, Carthage put runners on the corners with one out. Phelps was called out on strikes before Schwartz was hit by a pitch to load the bases.
Myles Farley then flied out to medium centerfield to end the game.
Fred Birr (1-1), in relief of Jay Palmer, was the winning pitcher. The loss went to
Kyle Damon (1-1), who allowed just one run on two hits, no walks and four strikeouts over four innings. Karson Thomas led Elmhurst by going three-for-four with three RBI.
Luke Beckmann and
Johnny Belskis each went two-for-four with two RBI for the Red Men.
Carthage travels to Carol Stream, Ill., on Tuesday, April 2 to take on conference-opponent Wheaton College (Ill.) in a 2 p.m. doubleheader at Lee Pfund Stadium.
"Today was a great game, an exciting game," said Carthage coach
Augie Schmidt IV, "even though I didn't do a very good of handling our pitchers. Once again, we spotted a bunch of runs early and then come charging back. We need do a better job with our pitching staff, that's for sure."
"It's been an interesting start to the season," continued Schmidt. "It's still that theme of not knowing what to expect on any given day. On Saturday, we got a great pitching effort by
Matt Willett, which is encouraging. We just have keep believing in ourselves. We may be at a point where we don't worry about the conference standings so much as we worry about the next game. We need to concentrate at what's at hand, since we're not good enough to take anything for granted. Right now, the job at hand is Wheaton on Tuesday, where we're starting two freshmen pitchers."
