ELMHURST – The Carthage baseball team put together a dominant offensive showing Tuesday afternoon, rolling past Elmhurst 20-5 in a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin (CCIW) matchup.

• Final Score: Carthage 20 – Elmhurst 5
• Location: Elmhurst, Illinois – Butterfield Park
• Records: Carthage 17-7 (5-2 CCIW), Elmhurst 7-17 (1-5 CCIW)

 

• The Firebirds came out swinging, plating seven runs in the first inning. 
• Max Cairo opened the scoring with a two-run homer, followed by a two-RBI single from Zander Tubbs and an RBI knock from A.J. Gaca. 
• Carthage tacked on two more with a bases-loaded walk and another walk by Cairo to make it 7-0.
• Joe Zuleger homered in the second to center field, and Collin Callahan added an RBI single to push the lead to 9-0.
• The Firebirds added two more in the fourth, taking advantage of an error and RBI single from Zuleger. Elmhurst responded with three runs in the bottom half. 
• After a Gaca RBI single in the fifth, Elmhurst cut the lead to 12-5 in the sixth before Carthage blew the game open with an eight-run seventh inning. 
• The Firebirds capitalized on defensive miscues and strung together timely hits, including a two-RBI single by P.J. Moser and a two-RBI base hit from Kody Krekling to seal the game.
• Brendan Roberts picked up the win for Carthage, improving to 3-1 on the season.

• Joe Zuleger had four hits in the game while Collin Callahan, Max Cairo and Zander Tubbs all had three hits. 
• Cairo and Zuleger each homered in the game. 
• Brendan Roberts struck out seven while Jake Pappagallo struck out four. 

 
 

• The Firebirds return home for a doubleheader against North Park starting on Saturday, April 12 at noon.