GAME STATS PICTURED ABOVE: Trey Martin (PICTURED LEFT) earned the victory and struck out seven batters. Austin Driggers (PICTURED RIGHT) was 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored.
BOXSCORE
Carol Stream, Ill. – The Wheaton baseball team picked up a key 5-4 CCIW victory against North Central College on Friday afternoon to open up a three-game series with the Cardinals. The two teams are scheduled to play a noon doubleheader at Zimmerman Stadium in Naperville on Saturday.
In Friday's Thunder victory, Wheaton scored five runs, on 11 hits, with one error and North Central scored four runs, on six hits, with two errors. Thunder starting pitcher
Trey Martin (1-0) earned the win in six innings. Martin allowed two runs, including one earned run, on three hits, with seven strikeouts and one walk. Freshman
Miles Veth worked one inning of relief, allowing two runs, on two hits, with one walk.
Matt MaLossi earned his first save of the year in two innings of relief. He was credited with no runs, on one hit, with one strikeout.
Austin Driggers was 3-for-4 on the day as he hit a double and scored two runs.
Justin Swider was 2-for-4, with a run driven in. Leftfielder
Drew Golz was 2-for-5.
Wheaton scored a run in the bottom of the first inning. The Thunder had one out in the inning with
Ryan Miller at third base and
Justin Zeller at first base. The Cardinals caught Zeller on a stolen base attempt; however, while he was in a rundown Miller scored the first run of the game. Driggers led off the bottom of the second inning with a double to leftfield and he scored two batters later on a sacrifice fly by Phillip Tuttle to give the Thunder a 2-0 lead.
The hosts extended their lead to 4-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning as Swider (PICTURED LEFT) hit a RBI-single and
John Jensen-Johnson drove in a run on a fielder's choice. The Cardinals scored a pair of runs in the top of the sixth inning to trim Wheaton's lead to 4-2. Martin hit a key RBI-double in the bottom of the sixth inning to drive in a run and advance Wheaton's lead to 5-2. The Cardinals countered with two runs in the top of the eighth inning to cut Wheaton's lead to 5-4; however, MaLossi shut the door on the hosts as Wheaton emerged with the key conference win.
