BOXSCORE
Schaumburg, Ill. - The Thunder baseball team opened its CCIW series with Augustana on Friday by winning a 9-6 contest against the Vikings at Alexian Field. Augustana opened the week ranked 21st in the most recent
D3baseball.com/NCBWA -Top 25.
Today's game extended Wheaton's win streak to three games. Wheaton (10-11/3-3 CCIW) will travel to Augustana (16-5/4-2) on Saturday for a doubleheader against the Vikings that will be begin at noon.
Live in-game statistics of Saturday's twinbill will be available online, courtesy of the Augustana Athletic Department.
Wheaton starting pitcher
Tim Urbanowicz (4-1) earned the win in a nine-inning, complete game effort. Urbanowicz allowed six runs, four of which were earned, on six hits, with six walks and five strikeouts.
Wheaton took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning as leadoff batter
Steve Dennison struck out, but reached base on a passed ball. Two more Augustana miscues sent Dennison to third base, allowing him to score on a ground out by catcher
Brian Whartnaby. An Augustana run in the top of the third inning tied the game at 1-1; however, Wheaton regained the lead at 2-1 with a run in the bottom of the third inning. Freshman
Ryan Miller was hit by a pitch in the bottom of the third and scored two batters later on a single to centerfield by freshman
Justin Zeller.
Augustana tied the game again with a run in the top of the fifth inning for a 2-2 score. Wheaton plated three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to regain the lead at 5-2. All-American
Brian Kolb and Zeller opened the bottom of the fifth with back-to-back walks. On the next at-bat, a sacrifice bunt by Dennison was misplayed by the Vikings as Kolb scored, Zeller went to third base and Dennison reached second base. With
Mark Price at the plate, Zeller scored on a passed ball and then Price hit a double to right centerfield that brought Dennison home and gave Wheaton a 5-2 lead.
Augustana tied the game for the third time with three runs in the top of the sixth inning for a 5-5 score. Wheaton took a lead it would never relinquish with four runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 9-5 lead. Sophomore
Charlie Antal led off the bottom of the sixth with a double to left field and Kolb was intentionally walked in the next at-bat. Zeller hit a well-placed single through the right side of the infield that allowed Antal to score and give Wheaton a 6-5 lead. In the next at-bat Dennison secured the Wheaton victory with a three-run home run over the center field fence to give Wheaton a 9-5 lead. Augustana scored one run in the top of the ninth inning to account for the 9-6 final score.
Zeller was 2-for-4 on the day, with a walk, two runs scored and two RBI. Antal was 2-for-5, with a double and a run scored. Dennison scored three runs and drove in three as he belted his second home run of the season.
