The Carthage College baseball team (2-0) opened its 2020 season on Saturday, March 7 by sweeping Luther College (4-4), 8-3 and 12-1, at the Kino Sports Complex in Tucson, Ariz. The sweep kicked off a nine-day, eight-game spring trip to the Tucson Invitational.
In the opening game, Luther took a 2-0 lead in the second inning off starting pitcher
Matt Willett. Carthage cut the lead to 2-1 in the third on an RBI-single by
Cody Phelps. Still trailing 2-1, the Red Men erupted for seven runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take an 8-2 lead.
Jake Mitchell and
Cody Tostrud each hit RBI-singles in the inning, and
Johnny Belskis delivered a two-run double. Closer Jacob Delabio, throwing in the mid 90s and trying to protect a six-run lead in the seventh, walked three of his first four batters and then walked in a run. Ben Reitz replaced him and got the side out to preserve the win in the seven-inning game.
Chance Roach (1-0), in relief of starting pitcher
Matt Willett, picked up the win by blanking Luther on no hits and no walks over two and one-third innings. Reitz was credited with a save. Collin Chalmers (0-1), the second-of-four Norse hurlers, took the loss.
Cody Tostrud,
Cody Phelps and
Jake Mitchell each had two hits for the Red Men.
In the nightcap, Luther took a 1-0 lead off starting pitcher
Keith Kutzler in the first inning, but that was all the Kenosha Tremper lefthander would allow. Kutzler (1-0) held the Norse that single run, unearned, on three hits and four walks over six innings, while striking out 12 batters, seven of those caught looking at strike three.
Nate Odahl worked a perfect seventh inning to close things out.
Carthage scored twice in the second inning, once in the fourth, three times in the fifth and six times in the sixth inning.
Jake Mitchell hit a two-run triple in the second and added an RBI-grounder in the sixth.
Jake Snider, who went two-for-four with three runs scored, tripled in two runs in the fifth.
Austin Prybylinski, who also went two-for-four, hit a two-run single in the sixth, and
Johnny Belskis added a two-run triple, also in the sixth. Luther pitcher Tyler Boesel (1-1) surrendered the first six runs and took the loss.
"Luther kind of gave us the first game with a couple of blown pickoff plays," said Carthage coach
Augie Schmidt IV. "They tried every pickoff play known to man, and we had guys running all over the place. Our closer, Jacob Delabio, was throwing 96 miles per hour in the first game but couldn't throw a strike, but Ben Reitz faced two batters in the seventh and got both of them out to close out the game.
Keith Kutzler was unbelievable in the second game. He threw hard and looks like a legitimate top-of-the-rotation pitcher."
The Red Men take on Wabash College on Sunday, March 8 in a 4 p.m., MST contest, with
Dante Guarascio on the hill for Carthage.
