WAUKESHA, Wis. - Nick Angus, a 6-foot junior right fielder from Darien, Ill., went 3-for-5 with a home run, two RBIs and two runs scored as the Carroll University baseball team defeated Elmhurst University 11-9 in a College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin game at Frame Park on Tuesday afternoon.
It was the second consecutive home-field victory for Carroll, which has won three of its last four and improved to 3-1 in the highly contested conference standings and 10-12 overall.
The victory took on added meaning as it was a season-high league single-game run total for the Pioneers, who have generated 11 or more runs in six victories this year (including a season-best 16 runs in a nonconference victory over the University of Wisconsin-Platteville on March 17).
Carroll has combined to outscore its first four conference opponents by a 27-20 margin, improving its home-field record to 5-2 in the process. 
Brad Vosters finished 2-for-3 with a homer, two RBIs, three runs scored and a stolen base as part of a balanced 12-hit offensive attack with seven starters getting at least one hit. 
Benton Holly contributed two hits with a homer, two RBIs and two runs scored for the Pioneers. Trevor Benz added two hits and scored a run.
Carroll collected the first run of the contest in the bottom of the first inning on an RBI single to right field by Holly.
Elmhurst, which dropped to 1-1 in conference and 8-10 overall, answered with two runs on three hits and took advantage of an error in the top of the second to claim a 2-1 lead.
Carroll responded with an early three-run rally in the second, powered on a clutch, two-out three run homer to left field by Casey Mir.
The Pioneers continued to builld momentum with three unanswered runs in the third to extend the lead to 7-2, sparked on a one-out RBI single to left field by Mitchell Massino. Benz later scored as the result of a hit batsman with the bases loaded and Vosters delivered a run-scoring sacrifice fly out to left field.
Elmhurst, which finished with 18 hits but stranded 16 baserunners, scored three runs in the fourth, two in the fifth to tie the game and regained an 8-7 lead with a single run in the sixth.
Carroll answered with a three-run rally in what became a decisive sixth, highlighted by a solo homer down the right-field line and a two-run homer to left-center field by Angus to claim a 10-8 advantage.
Holly added a solo homer to left-center field in the eight to help ensure a victory for the Pioneers, which blasted four homers in the battle.
Elmhurst managed its final run as the result of a two-base error in the ninth but couldn't get any closer.
Carroll utilized seven pitchers during the outing led by starter Bryce Spaulding, Connor Kelly, Zach Tuss, Andrew Stekiel, Connor Nolen, Dawson Kiphart and Jake Nitch.
Stekiel, a 6-1 senior right-hander from Brookfield, Wis., earrned his first victory of the season, allowing one earned run on two hits with one strikeout and no walks in working the top of the sixth. He threw 19 pitches in facing five batters, forcing one fly out and one ground out.
Nolen started the seventh and worked a scoreless 1 1/3 innings with one hit, four strikeouts and two walks.
Kiphart relieved Nolen with runners on first and second with one out in the eighth, responding to the pressure-packed situation by promptly forcing back-to-back ground outs to thwart a potential Elmhurst late-inning rally attempt.
Kiphart, an experienced imposing 6-3 240-pound right-hander from Two Rivers, Wis., was efficient in his one-official inning by throwing eight pitches in facing three batters and leaving the game following a strikeout in the ninth.
Nitch, who yielded back-to-back singles after entering in relief of Kiphart, eventually found his groove and pitched out of a tense situation with a runner at second and potential tying run at the plate with two outs in the ninth to earn a save, forcing a game-ending ground out.
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