WAUKESHA, Wis. - The Carroll University baseball team lost to Millikin University 8-2 in a College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin game at Frame Park on Sunday afternoon.
It was the second consecutive conference loss for Carroll, which dropped to 8-9 in the highly contested league standings and 15-21 overall with the Senior Day effort (honoring the lasting contributions of Brad Vosters, Matt Pestel, Jake Nitch, Josh Kolb, Tyler Love, Ben Ellifson, Griffin Klein, Michael Costanzo, Trevor Benz, Benton Holly, Mitchell Massino, Drew McDermid, Clay Schult, Justin Baker, Zach Tuss, Andrew Stekiel and Dawson Kiphart).
With the late-season home-field setback, the Pioneers slipped into sole possession of sixth place in the race to claim one of the top six spots in the upcoming prestigious league tournament. 
North Central (13-2) claimed its 17th regular-season league title and remains atop the conference standings followed by second-place Wheaton (9-6), third-place Augustana (8-6) and Millikin (8-6), fifth-place Illinois Wesleyan (7-7), sixth-place Carroll (8-9), seventh-place North Park (4-9) and Carthage (4-9) and ninth-place Elmhurst (3-10).
Casey Mir (who has a team-leading .333 batting average) went 3-for-4 with two doubles to power a 10-hit offensive attack for the Pioneers, who have a 7-4 record at home this season.
Benz and Kolb each followed with two hits for Carroll, which collected four doubles but stranded nine baserunners.
Carroll scored its first run in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI ground out by Holly (who has a team-best 34 RBIs this season) to trim the deficit to 4-1.
Pestel drove in the final run in the ninth on a sacrifice fly out to left field.
The Pioneers used five pitchers in the battle including starter Bryce Spaulding, McDermid, Klein, Costanzo and Nick Evert.
Spaulding, a 6-foot-2 junior right-hander from Racine, Wis., allowed three earned runs on four hits with three strikeouts and three walks through three complete innings in taking the loss.
Carroll is scheduled to host a nonconference doubleheader with Edgewood College on May 4th at 5 p.m. and will wrap up the regular season on the road versus Elmhurst in its CCIW matchup May 6th at 4 p.m.
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)