BOXSCORE
Lisle, Ill. – Carthage College defeated the Thunder baseball team 9-5 on Tuesday afternoon at Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex in a CCIW contest. Carthage scored nine runs, on 14 hits, with one error and Wheaton scored five runs, on 12 hits, with one error. Carthage, ranked 16th in this week's
D3baseball.com Top 25 poll, is now 12-3 on the year with a 4-0 CCIW record. Wheaton is 8-12 overall, with a 0-4 mark in league play.
Thunder starting pitcher
Steve Dennison (1-3) took the loss in 6-1/3 innings. He allowed seven runs, on 10 hits, with three strikeouts.
Taylor Howe worked one inning of relief as he allowed two runs, on two hits. Sophomore Phillip Tuttle worked the final 1-2/3 innings of the game as he held the Red Men scoreless on two hits, with two strikeouts.
Senior first baseman
Danny Pyne was 3-for-5, with two runs scored and a RBI. Pyne hit a double and a triple in the contest. Leftfielder
Drew Golz was 2-for-5, with a home run as he drove in three runs of Wheaton's on the day. Second baseman
Justin Swider was 2-for-4 and centerfielder
Justin Zeller was 2-for-5, with a run driven in.
Carthage scored three runs in the top of the second inning to jump out to a 3-0 lead and the Red Men added a run in the top of the third inning to increase its lead to 4-0. Golz belted a two-run home run to left centerfield in the bottom of the third inning to trim the guests' lead to 4-2. In the bottom of the fifth, Wheaton shortstop
Ryan Miller hit a leadoff double and later scored on a groundout by Golz to cut the Carthage lead to 4-3.
Carthage plated three runs in the top of the sixth inning to extend its advantage to 7-3. Pyne hit a RBI-double for the Thunder in the bottom of the seventh inning to make it a 7-4 Carthage lead. Carthage scored two runs in the top of the eighth inning to increase its lead to 9-4. Pyne led off the bottom of the ninth with a triple to deep centerfield and scored two batters later on a groundout to account for the final score of 9-5.
The Thunder will return to action on Friday at 6 PM with a single nine-inning contest at Illinois Wesleyan in Bloomington. Wheaton will host the Titans in a doubleheader at 1 PM on Saturday to wrap up the three-game series between the two teams.
