Republic made the most of its four base hits, taking advantage of six Carthage walks to win 5-3 at home Thursday. Gavyn Beckner pitched six innings, allowing just one unearned run, to pick up the win.
Carthage put together its best rally against Beckner in the first inning, loading the bases before Beckner struck out Sylas Browning to get out of trouble. In the bottom half of the inning, Republic loaded the bases with two outs, as well, but Drew Schroeder walked to force home a run, making the score 1-0.
Neither team scored again until the bottom of the fourth, when Republic tacked on two more runs. Devon Hughes doubled home Ace McWatters, and Garrett Lester scored on an error to give Republic a 3-0 lead. In the fifth, Republic scored two more runs on an error and a sacrifice fly by Lester to go ahead 5-0.
Carthage scored a single unearned run off Beckner in the sixth with the help of a throwing error by Hughes.
In the seventh against relief pitcher McWatters, Carthage dumped several soft line drives into the shallow outfield to put together a rally, pulling to within 5-3 and putting the tying runs in scoring position before McWatters coaxed a foul-out to end the game.
Carthage had 11 base hits, but stranded a dozen base runners and made four errors. Republic scored its five runs on just four hits, but benefited from six Carthage walks to win its fourth consecutive game.
Carthage falls to 6-12 (1-4 in the COC), and Republic improves to 10-8 (4-1 in the COC).