WAUKESHA, Wis. - The Carroll University baseball team split with Augustana College in a hard-fought College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin doubleheader at Frame Park on Sunday afternoon, losing the first game 6-2 but winning the finale 7-3.
With the statement-making home-field performance, Carroll claimed two of its first three conference games while improving to 2-1 in the league standings and 9-12 overall.
The Pioneers combined to outscore Augustana (which entered the weekend riding an eight-game nonconference winning streak and hovering just outside of the D3baseball.com top 25) in the three-game set by a 16-11 margin with 23 hits including six for extra bases (three home runs, two doubles and one triple), showcased their patience at the plate by drawing 23 walks and finished with a three-game combined .237 team batting average (highlighted with a series-high .344 average in the finale).
Carroll's pitching also took the spotlight, combining to register 23 strikeouts with nine walks and a 3.67 earned run average. The Pioneers played strong defensively, committing just one error over the course of the weekend and improved to 4-2 at home.

GAME 1
Carroll took an early lead in the first game, collecting its only two runs in the bottom of the second inning as Trevor Benz scored on a passed ball and Tyler Love followed with an RBI sacrifice fly out to center field.
Augustana, which finished with nine hits, scored three unanswered runs in the top of the third, a single run in the fifth and two in the sixth (as the result of four home runs).
Benz, Casey Mir and Bennet Becker each collected a hit for the Pioneers, who generated just four hits in the outing.
Brett Buzzelli took the hard-luck loss to drop to 1-2 overall, yielding six earned runs on eight hits with eight strikeouts and no walks through eight innings for Carroll. 
Buzzelli, a 5-foot-10 sophomore right-hander Homer Glen, Ill., threw 95 pitches in facing 33 batters while forcing 10 flyouts and six ground outs. Zach Tuss pitched a scoreless ninth.
Jacob Barker, Matt Ozanic, Kyle Campbell and Alec McGinnis each homered for Augustana. Josh Wintroub earned a victory, allowing two earned runs on four hits with seven strikeouts and two walks through seven complete innings.

GAME 2
Brad Vosters went 4-for-5 with a double, a triple, three RBIs and a run scored to power Carroll's 11-hit offensive attack in the second game.
Vosters, a graduate student from Kaukauna, Wis. and the team's reliable shortstop/lead-off hitter, currently has a .314 batting average with 22 hits, 22 runs scored and team-best 19 walks.
Matt Pestel, a 5-foot-8 fleet-footed senior left fielder from Homer Glen, Ill., went 3-for-3 with a run scored and a stolen base for the Pioneers. 
Benton Holly, a durable senior third baseman from Mundelein, Ill., finished 2-for-4 with a home run (his second of the series) and is batting .261 with 18 hits, 18 RBIs and team-leading three homers.
Carroll erased an early 1-0 deficit in the bottom of the second as Holly hit a game-tying solo homer to right field. The Pioneers again tied the game 2-2 in the third as Vosters scored on a wild pitch.
Augustana, 15-5 overall, reclaimed a one-run lead on a solo homer in the top of the fourth.
Carroll trailed 3-2 heading into the bottom of the fourth, but demonstrated its resilience by answering with two runs on two hits to claim a 4-3 lead, ignited on game-tying lead-off solo homer to right field by Nick Angus and what became a winning one-out RBI double down the left field line by Vosters.
Matt Pestel delivered a run-scoring single to left field in the fifth to extend the lead to 5-3 for the Pioneers. Vosters had a run-scoring single to right field in the sixth and added an RBI single down the right field line in the seventh to help ensure a victory.
Carroll utilized seven pitchers in the battle including starter Drew McDermid, Elliot Elm, Connor Kelly, Andrew Stekiel, Dawson Kiphart and Jake Nitch, combining to allow three runs on five hits with nine strikeouts and five walks.
Elm, a 6-2 freshman right-hander from South Milwaukee, Wis.,  earned his first victory of the season by yielding one earned run on two hits with two strikeouts and no walks in working the fourth and fifth 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 Instagtram (@pio_athletics)