Geneva, Ill. (4/23) – The Thunder baseball team picked up a 5-2 win against Aurora University on Monday night at Elfstrom Stadium, the home of the Class-A minor league Kane County Cougars. Monday's game is a make-up for games against Aurora that originally been scheduled in March, but were cancelled because of inclement weather. Wheaton is now 8-18-1 on the Season and Aurora is 12-18 overall. The Thunder will play another night game on Tuesday night in 6 PM first pitch at Benedictine University in Lisle.
Wheaton scored five runs, on 13 hits, with one error and Aurora plated two runs, on five hits, with one error. Aurora scored a run in the bottom of the first and added another in the bottom of the second to jump out to a 2-0 lead on the Thunder. Wheaton took a 4-2 lead with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. Freshman Brian Kolb led off the top of the fourth inning with a single to left centerfield and senior Josh Baker drove in Kolb in the next at-bat with a double to left centerfield. Baker scored two batters later when junior Dan Falvey drove him in. Mike Bravo and David Niehls hit singles in consecutive at bats and they scored on an Aurora error on a ball hit by freshman Mark Price. Wheaton added an insurance run to go ahead 5-2 in the top of the seventh inning as Matt Price hit a RBI-single to drive in Baker who reached earlier in the inning on a fielder's choice.
The Thunder pitching quartet of Tim Urbanowicz, Matt Price , Brandon Bradley and Falvey pitched well in holding Aurora to five hits and just one earned run. Urbanowicz, the Thunder starting pitcher, tossed three innings, allowing two runs, with one earned run, on two hits, with two walks and three strikeouts. Matt Price (2-4) earned the victory in four innings of sharp relief. Price allowed just two hits, with no runs and struck out two Spartans. Bradley tossed one inning of relief, allowing no hits, with two strikeouts. Falvey earned one inning of relief, with one hit and no runs allowed.
Kolb continued his hot play with a 3-for-5 effort at the plate, hitting a double and a run scored. Bravo was 3-for-4 with a run scored. Baker went 2-for-5, with a double, two runs scored and a RBI. Price had a 2-for-4 effort at the plate with a walk and a run driven in.
