Carol Stream, Illinois (3/22) - The Thunder baseball team earned a pair of wins on Wednesday, sweeping Concordia (Wis.) in the home opener for Wheaton. The Thunder rolled to a 12-0 victory against the Falcons in the first game and a 16-4 win in the nightcap. The Thunder improves to 5-4 on the season, while Concordia (Wis.) is now 5-9. Wheaton's next scheduled game is a single contest against Concordia (Ill.) at home on March 28.
In the 12-0 Thunder victory in the first game, Wheaton scored twelve runs, on eleven hits, with one error, while Concordia had no runs, on three hits and committed five errors. Concordia was shut out by the tremendous pitching of senior Matt Price. Price (1-1) held the Falcons to just three hits, with three strikeouts and a walk in the complete game shutout. Thunder catcher Jay White was 3-for-3 with a double, a walk and two runs scored. Nick Turner was 2-for-5 with a RBI and a run scored.
Wheaton's offense was started in the bottom of the second inning when junior Neil Reasland doubled down the right field line to score senior Britt Harris who had led off the inning with a walk. White stepped up to the plate with two outs and delivered a base hit to rightfield to score Reasland. A Concordia fielding error brought two more runs home to give the Thunder a 4-0 lead through two innings. Concordia threatened to score in the top of the fourth when two-out hits were delivered by Kev Courvoisier and Brett Summers, but the Thunder defense held as the next batter grounded out to first.
The Thunder offense produced four more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning as White started the offense by doubling to right center and junior Dan Falvey advanced him on a single. A single to center by Turner scored White and a superb sacrifice bunt by junior Luke Munch brought Falvey home. Two walks and an error by Concordia resulted in the final runs of the inning. The final four runs where gathered in the bottom of the sixth when senior Matt Bradley (Pictured right) singled to centerfield and a Falcon error combined with a wild pitch brought four runs home to account for the 12-0 final score behind timely hitting and the stellar effort on the mound by Price.
Wheaton earned the 16-4 victory in the second game as the Thunder scored 16 runs, on 12 hits, with two errors and Concordia scored four runs, on five hits, with five errors. Freshman Brian Kolb was 3-for-3 with two walks and two runs scored. Matt Bradley was 3-for-5 with a double, two stolen bases and two runs scored. Munch was 2-for-3, with a walk, three runs, two stolen bases and a run scored. Freshman John Little started the game on the mound and allowed three runs, on one hit, with four walks and a strikeout in 1-1/3 innings of work. Brandon Bradley earned the win in 4-2/3 innings of impressive relief to improve to 2-1 on the season. Bradley scattered four hits, with two walks and six strikeouts. Freshman Tim Urbanowicz tossed one inning of relief, allowing one unearned run, with no hits, two walks and two strikeouts.
Wheaton took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning as Matt Price hit a RBI single and Concordia allowed an unearned run. The Falcons plated three runs in the top of the second inning to take a 3-2 lead, however, Wheaton countered with four runs in the bottom of the inning to take a 6-3 lead lead. The inning was highlighted by a two-RBI single to centerfield by Kolb. The Thunder scored four more runs in the bottom of the third inning to take a 10-3 lead as Turner and Harris hit RBI-singles.
Wheaton added two runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to increase its lead to 12-3. The hosts plated four additional runs in the sixth, highlighted by a two-RBI single through the left side of the infield from Kolb. The Falcons scored one unearned run in the top of the seventh, but could not muster a full rally as Wheaton emerged with the 16-4 victory.
