WAUKESHA, Wis. - The Carroll University baseball team split with Illinois Wesleyan University in a sunny, cool College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin doubleheader at Frame Park on Thursday afternoon, winning the opener 5-3 but losing the second game 15-3.
Carroll is currently 8-11 in the conference standings (fifth place) and 14-13 overall.
TJ Pfaffle went a combined 5-for-7 with two doubles and three runs scored on the day for the Pioneers, who have a 9-6 home-field record this season.
Pfaffle, a senior from Waukesha, Wis., remains the team's top hitter with a .416 batting average, including a team-high 42 hits, nine doubles and 19 RBIs.
GAME 1
Pfaffle went 3-for-3 with a double, two runs scored and drove in a run to power an eight-hit offensive attack in the opener.
Carroll scored three runs on four hits in the bottom of the first inning, including an RBI single to center field by Pfaffle, a run-scoring single to right field from
Mitchell Massino and an RBI fielder's choice ground out by
Alec Honickel.
Dylan Callahan followed with a two-run home run (his fifth of the season) in the third to extend the lead to 5-0 for the Pioneers, who finished with three extra-base hits.
Illinois Wesleyan responded with a single run in the top of the fourth and two runs in the sixth but couldn't complete a comeback.
Ben Ellifson was the winning pitcher and improved to 4-1 overall, allowing three runs in scattering eight hits with two strikeouts and one walk through 5 2/3 innings of work.
Dawson Kiphart, who came in relief of Ellifson in the sixth with runners on first and third with two outs, forced a critical inning-ending flyout.
Jake Nitch, who picked up a save, responded with a game-ending strikeout in the seventh to thwart a potential IWU rally attempt and put an exclamation point on the victory.
Dom DiLello went 2-for-4 with a homer for IWU, which had eight hits but stranded seven baserunners.
GAME 2
In the finale, Carroll tied the game in the bottom of the second on a run-scoring single to left field by
Trevor Benz.
Illinois Wesleyan scored two runs in the top of the third to regain a 3-1 lead.
Carroll answered with two runs on two hits in the third as Pfaffle scored as the result of a wild pitch and Callahan later scored on an error.
IWU regained the lead for good in the decisive fifth, scoring what became the two winning runs. The Titans, who finished with 13 hits, added four runs in the sixth, a single run in the eighth and five runs in the ninth.
Pfaffle went 2-for-4 with a double to lead a seven-hit attack for Carroll, which stranded seven runners on base.
Justin Baker also contributed two hits for the Pioneers.
Drew McDermid took the loss, yielding five runs on five hits with one strikeout and three walks through five complete innings.
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