Boxscore

Schaumburg, Ill. - The Wheaton College baseball team used a late rally to beat Illinois Wesleyan University 11-6 on Saturday. The second game of the doubleheader was rained out and will be rescheduled at a future date.

The Thunder improved to 19-15 overall and 11-6 in the CCIW. The Titans fell to 21-10 and 12-5 in conference play.

It was a battle of big left-handers on the mound to start the game as IWU's Joe Froelich faced off against Wheaton's Steve Dennison. The Titans struck first as leadoff hitter Brett Moore smacked a homer to left-center field in the top of the first.

Meanwhile, Froelich made it one time through the Wheaton lineup before the Wheaton bats started hitting. An RBI double to deep center by Brian Kolb and RBI singles by Josh Weaver and Charlie Antal gave the home team a 3-1 lead in the third inning.

RBI singles by Kolb and Miller the next two innings stretched the lead to 5-1. But the Titans started making good contact and roared back with five runs over the next two frames to retake a 6-5 advantage.

After Froelich was taken out of the game after only 4 1/3 innings, IWU put in reliever Paul Kabbes. Wheaton loaded the bases when Miller stroked a two-run single up the middle. Kolb then chased Kabbes with an RBI single to right field. Justin Zeller completed the big inning with a three-run homer to right field off Matt Aronson.

From that point on, senior reliever Ed McCaskey held IWU at bay. The lefty (PICTURED RIGHT) induced fly balls into the swirling winds and used good location and an effective change-up in a strong effort by the senior. McCaskey got the win in four innings of relief, allowing six hits and two runs with one strikeout.

Wheaton's offense was paced by their No. 1-3 hitters, who combined to go 8-for-15 with nine RBI. Miller and Kolb both went 3-for-5 with three RBI and Zeller went 2-for-5 with three RBI. Antal also went 3-for-5 with an RBI.