KENOSHA, Wis. - Brett Buzzelli was a steady force on the mound.
Buzzelli, a 5-foot-10 freshman right-hander from Homer Glen, Ill., emphasized that point by yielding one run on four hits with five strikeouts and one walk through seven complete innings as the Carroll University baseball team defeated Carthage College 12-6 in a College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin game at Augie Schmidt Field on Friday night.
It was the first conference victory of the season for Carroll, which won its third straight to improve to 1-3 in the conference standings and 7-5 overall.
Buzzelli, who had a no-hit shutout working through the opening two innings and earned his first collegiate victory, faced 27 hitters during the impressive outing forcing nine fly outs and six ground outs in the process.
Carroll scored the first run of the contest in the top of the third inning on a solo home run to center field by Benton Holly (who belted his team-leading fourth of the season and third over the course of the last three games)
Carthage tied the game 1-1 on a run-scoring sacrifice fly in the bottom of the third.
Carroll regained a lead in the fourth as TJ Pfaffle delivered a one-out RBI sacrifice flyout.
The Pioneers answered with five runs on four hits in the key, momentum-shifting fifth as Danny Glampe scored on a wild pitch, Alec Honickel followed with an RBI groundout, Holly scored on a wild pitch with Dylan Callahan and Mitchell Massino each hitting solo homers to left field.
Carroll scored three runs in the seventh to extend its lead to 10-1, sparked on an RBI single to center field from Pfaffle and a two-run homer to left field by Justin Baker.
Carthage responded with a four-run rally in the eighth to trim the deficit to 10-5.
Pfaffle added a run-scoring double and eventually scored on a wild pitch in the ninth to help ensure a victory for the Pioneers, who won a CCIW game for the first time since May 3, 2019 (a 5-1 home-field victory over Augustana College at Frame Park).
Pfaffle went 3-for-3 with a double, three RBIs, two runs scored and a stolen base to propel an 11-hit offensive attack for the Pioneers, who had six extra-base hits highlighted by four homers. Callahan contributed three hits with a homer, a double and scored three runs.
Jake Cinelli went 2-for-3 and scored a run for Carthage, which dropped to 4-4 overall. Ben Levicki hit a grand slam for the Raiders.
Stay up to date on Carroll baseball by going online to www.gopios.com, or by following the Pioneers on Facebook (Carroll University Athletics), Twitter (@pio_athletics), and Instagram (@pio_athletics).