Journal Times sports staff

Believe it or not, Washington University actually led 1-0 after the first inning.

And that was the only time the Bears (25-12) led in Saturday's NCAA Division III Central Regional at Moline, Ill.

The seventh-ranked Carthage College baseball team lived up to its ranking in the second-round game, taking the lead for good with three runs in the second and breaking the game open with four in the third en route to a 21-3 victory for the Red Men (34-6).

The 18-run victory was Carthage's biggest ever in NCAA postseason play. Their previous biggest margin of victory was a 17-3 rout of Fontbonne in the 1998 Central Regional Championship at the Carthage Baseball Field in Kenosha.

Carthage advanced to a third-round game Saturday night against Millsaps, which beat UW-Whitewater 12-4 later Saturday afternoon.

Carthage beat Millsaps 12-5 Saturday night and is the only unbeaten team remaining in the tournament. The Red Men advance to Sunday's championship round and will play either Wartburg, Millsaps or UW-Whitewater at 4 p.m., depending upon the outcome of three earlier games.

In the rout of Washington, catcher Mark Sobol went 4-for-5, scored three runs and drove in three runs and outfielder Trevor Whately went 3-for-6, scored four runs and drove in four runs, three of them coming on a home run in the seventh inning.

Sobol's two-run double to center in the second inning put Carthage ahead for good at 2-1. Sobol then scored on Joe Ferro's groundout.

The Bears, who were eliminated, cut the deficit to 3-2 in the third when Mark Bayer scored on a fielding error by Carthage third baseman Drew Roberts.

But the Red Men answered with four runs in the bottom of the third, highlighted by RBI singles by Mike Hughes and Sobol, and the rout was on.

A five-run fifth inning put Carthage up 12-2. With the bases loaded, Tyler Eickmeyer singled in a run, former Park High School standout John Lequia drew a walk to force in another run, Hughes singled down the right-field line to score two more and Roberts hit a sacrifice fly to score the fifth run of the inning.

Whately's three-run home run highlighted the Red Men's four-run seventh inning.

Carthage had 21 hits in the game, 17 of which were singles.

Lequia went 3-for-5, scored two runs and had an RBI and Ferro went 3-for-6 with three RBIs.

Mario Perez went the distance for the Red Men, allowing three runs (two earned) on nine hits and two walks. Perez struck out eight.