WAUKESHA, Wis. - The Carroll University baseball team lost to second-place Augustana College 3-2 in a hard-fought College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin game at Frame Park on Thursday afternoon.
It was the third consecutive home-field conference loss and came on back-to-back days for Carroll, which dropped to 12-17 in the league standings and 18-19 overall.
The Pioneers have suffered three one-run conference losses, all coming at the hands of top-tier teams who have been nationally ranked this season.
Carroll scored its two runs in the bottom of the second inning, including an RBI single by Benton Holly (who has a team-leading 35 RBIs) and a run-scoring sacrifice flyout to right field by Justin Baker.
Augustana, which entered the contest hovering just out of the d3baseball.com Top 25 and improved to 20-6 in conference and 28-6 overall, scored its three runs in the top of the fifth.
The game-winner coming on a clutch, two-out RBI single by Zachary Vrbancic, who went 2-for-4 to lead a 10-hit attack for the Vikings (leading the regular-season series 2-0).
Carroll had the potential winning run at the plate with a runner at first and two outs in the ninth but couldn't take advantage of the opportunity as the game ended on a force out.
Mitchell Massino went 2-for-4 and scored a run for Carroll, which finished with five hits but stranded six runners on base. Brad Vosters and Nick Angus each added a hit.
Ben Ellifson took the tough loss and dropped to 4-3 overall, allowing three runs on seven hits with two strikeouts and one walk through 4 2/3 innings.
The Pioneers utilized five pitchers in the character-building outing, with Nick Evert, Josh Streu, Dawson Kiphart and Jake Nitch combining for a strong three-hit shutout with four strikeouts and no walks over the course of the final 4 1/3 innings.
Carroll remains in sole possession of fifth place in the league standings with three regular-season games remaining (a doubleheader at Augustana on May 9th and a home-field showdown with North Park on May 12th).
The Pioneers, seeking their first 20-victory season since 2018, lead the CCIW in home runs (38), RBIs (242) and doubles (77).
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)