The UW-Whitewater baseball team never led on Sunday in their 8-6 loss to Carthage University in North Port, Florida. The Warhawks are now 5-3 while Carthage improves to 6-4.

 

These two teams squared off on Friday down south with the victory going to the Warhawks 9-0. Sunday was a bit different as Carthage scored two runs in the bottom of the third and never gave away that lead.

 

With Carthage up 5-0 in the top of the fifth, UW-W rallied to score three runs to cut the lead to two. Cory Trepanier (Oconto/Oconto) got the inning started with a single to center field and Mike Ross (Crystal Lake, IL/Crystal Lake South), the third batter of the inning, belted a one out single to put runners on first and second. Derek Murphy (Verona/Verona) then reached first on a Carthage error that moved Ross to second and allowed Trepanier to score. Mike Kenseth (Milwaukee/West Allis Hale) followed with a single that resulted in a throwing error by the Carthage left fielder that allowed Ross to score the second run of the inning. Another Red Men error following a Travis Wessels (Tomah/Tomah) hit allowed Murphy to score the final UW-W run of the inning.

 

Carthage responded with a run in the bottom of the fifth to extend their lead to three before the Warhawks answered with two more runs in the top of the sixth to tighten the score at 6-5.

 

The Red Men expanded their lead to three, 8-5, after a run in the bottom of the sixth and the bottom of the seventh.

 

Down three going into the top of the ninth, UW-W center fielder Sam Petrasko (Appleton/East) singled to drive in Max Cordio (Whitewater/Whitewater). However, the Warhawks offense was stifled before a comeback could take place.

 

Carthage pitcher Mario Perez, 1-0, went the distance and struck out nine Warhawk batters.

 

No UW-W player was able to record multiple hits, but Trepanier did notch two runs and Murphy tallied two RBIs in the game. The game was littered with errors as the Red Men were responsible for six and the Warhawks had three.

 

UW-W will remain in Florida for a game on Wednesday against Otterbein and a game on Thursday against the Minnesota Twins A team. The game against the Twins will not count towards the Warhawks record.