KENOSHA, Wis. -
Ben Ellifson, a sophomore right-hander from Oak Creek, Wis., allowed one earned run while scattering 11 hits with two strikeouts and no walks to earn a complete-game victory as the Carroll University baseball team defeated fierce, intra-state rival Carthage College 5-1 in a College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin showdown at Augie Schmidt Field on Wednesday afternoon.
With the statement-making road victory, Carroll completed the four-game regular-season league series versus the Firebirds with a 3-1 record (its first series victory over Carthage since rejoining the league) while improving to 7-8 in the conference standings and 13-10 overall.
It was the first complete-game victory of the 2021 campaign for Ellifson, who faced 34 hitters and forced 12 ground outs and eight fly outs en route to improving to 3-1 overall.
Carroll, which has won three of its last four and evened its road record to 5-5 overall, collected its first run in the top of the second inning as
Trevor Benz delivered an RBI single to left-center field.
The Pioneers extended the lead to 3-0 in the fifth as
Benton Holly scored as the result of an error and
Dylan Callahan followed with an RBI single.
Carroll added two runs in the ninth to help ensure a victory, including a run-scoring sacrifice bunt by Benz, an RBI single to center field by Holly.
Holly went 2-for-4 and scored a run to help power an eight-hit offesnive attack for the Pioneers.
TJ Pfaffle also contributed two hits with Callahan, Benz,
Justin Baker and
Nick Angus each adding a hit.
Ellifson had a shutout working until surrendering a two-out run-scoring single to right field by Carthage's Jake Cinelli, who finished 2-for-4.
Cody Tostrud went 3-for-4 to pace the Firebirds, who dropped to 6-7 in conference and 11-9 overall.
Troy Siranovic took the loss, yielding three runs on six hits with three strikeouts and one walk through eight complete innings.
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)
