PENSACOLA, Fla. - The Carroll University baseball team defeated the University of Wisconsin-Platteville 16-10 in the second round of Studer's Blue Wahoos Challenge at Community Maritime Park's Admiral Fetterman Field on Thursday evening.
It was the second contest of a challenging six-game Spring Break road trip for Carroll, which improved to 1-1 on the trip and 5-6 overall with the statement-making St. Patrick's Day performance.
The resilient come-from-behind effort was the first victory over a Wisconsin Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (WIAC) team this season for the Pioneers, who generated a single-game season-high run total in the process.
Trailing 9-7 after six complete innings, Carroll responded with seven runs on four hits and took advantage of two errors in what proved to be a decisive top of the seventh.
Clay Schult ignited the late-inning scoring surge on a run-scoring single to center field and later scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. Trevor Benz delivered a one-out RBI single to center field and eventually scored on a passed ball. Justin Baker scored on a bases-loaded walk.
Benton Holly scored on a passed ball and Bennet Becker crossed the plate as the result of an error as Carroll re-claimed a 14-9 lead.
The Pioneers added two runs in the eighth on an RBI double to left-center field by Mitchell Massino and a run-scoring double to right field by Benz.
Josh Kolb went 3-for-6 with a triple and two runs scored to help propel a 12-hit offensive attack for Carroll, which finished with six extra-base hits (including four doubles and two triples). Benz and Casey Mir each followed with two hits, three RBIs and a run scored. Massino added two hits and drove in two runs for the Pioneers.
Carroll, which committed just one error, scored three runs on two hits in the top of the first including an RBI double to left-center field by Mir, a run-scoring ground-rule double to left-center field by Massino and an RBI ground out by Benz.
UW-Platteville scored three runs in the bottom of the first to tie the game 3-3.
Carroll regained a one-run lead in the second as Baker responded with an RBI single to center field and extended its lead to 5-3 as Brad Vosters scored on a passed ball in the fourth.
UW-Platteville scored five runs on three hits to claim an 8-5 lead in the bottom of the fourth.
Carroll trimmed the deficit to 8-7 in the fifth on a clutch, two-out, two-run triple to right field by Mir.
UW-Platteville extended its lead with a single run in the sixth, setting the stage for the Pioneers' big seventh-inning rally.
Carroll used six pitchers in the showdown, including starter Bryce Spaulding, Josh Streu, Michael Costanzo, Connor Nolen, Dawson Kiphart and Jake Nitch.
Nolen, a 6-foot-3 sophomore right-hander from Poplar Bluff, Ill., was the winning pitcher earning his first victory of the season to improve to 1-1 overall by working a scoreless 1 2/3 innings yielding no hits with three strikeouts and one walk.
UW-Platteville, which finished with 10 hits and committed four errors, dropped to 2-3 overall.
Carroll is scheduled to face No. 14-ranked UW-Whitewater in a nonconference game Friday at 10 a.m. (EST)
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