BOXSCORE
Bloomington, Ill. – The Thunder baseball team opened its three-game series with Illinois Wesleyan on Friday night, as the Titans topped Wheaton, 5-3. Illinois Wesleyan scored five runs, on eight hits, with two errors and Wheaton plated three runs, on 11 hits, committing three errors.
Wheaton is now 8-13 overall and 0-5 in conference play. Illinois Wesleyan ranked 21st in this week's D3baseball.com Top-25 rankings, is now 13-5 overall and 5-1 in CCIW action. The two teams will resume their weekend series on Saturday with a doubleheader at 1 PM at Lisle-Benedictine University Sports Complex, the 2011 home of the Thunder baseball team.
Thunder starting pitcher
Drew Golz (2-3) took the loss in eight innings on the mound for the guests. Golz allowed five runs, with four earned runs, on eight hits, with two walks and two strikeouts.
Sophomore Phillip Tuttle was 2-for-4 at the plate for the Thunder, with a double and a run batted in. Freshman
Desmond Cato was 2-for-4 with a run scored and
Trey Martin was 2-for-4 with a RBI. Junior centerfielder
Justin Zeller was 2-for-5, with a run scored.
Illinois Wesleyan took a 1-0 lead with a run in the bottom of the second inning and the Titans added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to increase their lead to 3-0. Wheaton scored its first run of the game in the top of the sixth inning.
Austin Driggers hit a two-out single in the top of the sixth inning and he was followed by a Tuttle single that advanced Driggers to second base. Driggers scored on a RBI-single to rightfield by
Trey Martin.
The Titans increased their lead to 4-1 with a run in the bottom of the seventh inning. Wheaton cut the hosts' lead to 4-2 in the top of the eighth inning as
Justin Zeller hit a one-out single and two batters later he scored on a double to left centerfield by Tuttle. Illinois Wesleyan added an additional run in the bottom of the eighth inning for a 5-2 Titan advantage. Freshman
Desmond Cato hit a leadoff single to open the top of the ninth inning and he scored on a RBI-single by Golz to cut the IWU lead to 5-3, but the Thunder rally would end on the next at-bat, ending the game in the final score of 5-3.
