The Carthage College baseball team keeps finding a way to get the job done.

The Red Men, ranked second in the D3baseball.com poll, extended their season-opening winning streak to 19 games Wednesday, edging North Park 7-6 in a College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin game at Carthage's field in Kenosha. Carthage is within one victory of tying the program's longest-ever winning streak, set last year.

With Carthage trailing 5-3 in the seventh inning, David Hermes singled in a run to pull the Red Men to within one. A long home run by Jason Acevado in the eighth inning tied the score at 5-5.

Carthage had a chance to win in the bottom of the ninth inning, getting runners on second and third with one out. But Hermes struck out swinging and Ty Heegeman flied to left.

After North Park (11-13, 3-6 CCIW) took a 6-5 lead in the 10th inning, Carthage came back again. Boe Baitinger walked on four pitches to open the inning, advanced to second on a passed ball, moved to third on a sacrifice bunt and scored on a double by Acevado.

Then, with two outs, Josh Albers lined a single just inside the left-field line to score Acevado with the winning run. Acevado went 3-for-5 with four RBIs.

Carthage, which has won 39 of its last 41 games, improved to 9-0 in the CCIW. The Red Men have won 16 straight CCIW games.

* Acevado has been named the CCIW Player of the Week. The senior first baseman hit .478 in five conference games with three doubles, four home runsa, 12 RBIs and a 1.130 slugging percentage.

Softball

UW-PARKSIDE: The Rangers swept a Great Lakes Valley Conference doubleheader against Quincy at Quincy, Ill., winning the first game 6-3 and the second 9-7.

In the first game, catcher Krista Kelly went 2-for-4 with a homer and drove in three runs and Meagan Shimkus earned the victory. In 11 innings, Shimkus allowed five hits and struck out nine.

Kelly again led Parkside (18-11, 5-5 GLVC) in the second game, homering and driving in four runs as the Rangers' designated hitter. Right fielder Amanda Miller, Parkside's leadoff hitter, went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and scored two runs.

Shimkus earned the save after coming on for starter Jessica Bryant, pitching 1 2/3 innings of hitless relief.

CARTHAGE: The Lady Reds, behind the hitting of first baseman Jacqelyn Tassone, catcher Jenny Burke and shortstop Kari Peterson, swept North Park in a CCIW doubleheader at Chicago. Carthage won the first game 11-3 and the second 6-3.

Tassone went 3-for-4 with two homers and four RBIs in the first game while Burke went 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs. And right fielder Nikki Soreng went 2-for-5 with two RBIs.

In the second game, Peterson went 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Allie Benthausen allowed six hits in seven innings and struck out eight.

Carthage improved to 9-5 overall and 2-2 in the CCIW.