GAME STATS 1 | GAME STATS 2 PICTURED ABOVE: Phil Tuttle had two RBIs in game one and Matt Schappell had two doubles in game two of a doubleheader against North Central on Saturday.

Carol Stream, Ill.- Down to their last out in the first game of Saturday's doubleheader against North Central, the Thunder rallied in dramatic fashion to force extra innings before capturing an 11-inning victory that also gave them their first series victory of the conference season. Wheaton couldn't manage the series sweep as North Central was victorious 8-5 in game two of the doubleheader. Wheaton is now 8-17 this season and 4-7 in CCIW play. North Central falls to 11-13 with a similar 4-7 conference mark.

North Central took an early lead in game one of the twinbill with an unearned run in the top of the second inning. Wheaton managed to tie the game in the bottom of the fourth inning when Josh Kimmel (PICTURED RIGHT) led off with a bunt single, reached second on a balk, moved to third on a groundout and scored on Phil Tuttle's sacrifice fly. The Cardinals had an answer in the top of the fifth and retook a 2-1 lead that would looked like it would hold on to be the final score.

After a quick two outs in the bottom of the ninth, North Central starter Kris Singh got ahead of Tuttle with a first pitch breaking ball. Ahead in the count, Singh tried to sneak across a fastball that Tuttle pounded on and drove deep over the right field wall for a game-tying home run.

Neither team threatened in the tenth but Wheaton led off the 11th inning with a leadoff walk to Matt Schappell. Schappell stole second which led to Tuttle being intentionally walked. Justin Swider moved both runners into scoring position with a ground out which then led to an intentional walk to Desmond Cato to load the bases with one out. Kyle Mellinger (PICTURED LEFT) wasted no time on the moment, driving the first pitch he saw for a single into left field to plate Schappell and give Wheaton the 3-2 walk-off victory.

Casey Moll earned the victory for the Thunder with three innings of scoreless relief. Michael Kauffman earned a no-decision by throwing eight innings, allowing just one earned run and striking out 10 Cardinals.

North Central started game two of the doubleheader by pushing across three quick runs in the top of the first inning but once again the Thunder came storming back. Kimmel and Schappell managed to lead-off with consecutive singles and then came around to score on a two-out triple by Cato. Wheaton would load the bases following the triple but couldn't bring home the tying run.

Still clinging to the one-run lead in the top of the fifth, John Ciolkosz blasted a three-run home run to right field to give the Cards a 6-2 lead. The Thunder answered by loading the bases with no outs in the bottom of the fifth but could only push across one run on a sacrifice fly by John Jensen-Johnson that cut the lead to 8-3.

Wheaton responded to a North Central insurance run in the top of the sixth wtih two runs in the bottom of the inning coming off a two-out triple by Swider. The Cardinals would add one more insurance run in the top of the seventh inning, but Scott Mancini (PICTURED RIGHT) prevented any further damage by working out of a jam to end the seventh and then providing two more innings of shutout relief.

Wheaton kicks off a busy week of games on Monday afternoon when they travel to Elmhurst for the rubber match of a three-game series at 3 PM. The Thunder then will travel to Evanston, Illinois on Tuesday to take on Division-I Northwestern University at 3 PM. On Wednesday, Wheaton will face Concordia University-Chicago in a non-conference tilt scheduled for 3 PM before the Thunder head to Decatur, Illinois for a three-game CCIW series at Millikin University over the weekend.