GAME STATS 1 | GAME STATS 2 PICTURED ABOVE: John Johnson homered twice and Justin Swider had five hits and four RBIs in Wheaton's doubleheader sweep of Millikin.

Decatur, Ill.- The Wheaton baseball team played long ball early and often on Saturday afternoon in a doubleheader sweep of Millikin University. Six home runs helped the Thunder secure victories of 12-7 and 4-2 while also ruining the home opener for the Big Blue. With the victories, Wheaton improves to 10-18 and 6-7 in the CCIW while Millikin falls to 7-17 and 1-13 in conference play.

Wheaton struck first in what would become a wacky back and forth affair in game one of the doubleheader when a Desmond Cato single plated Phil Tuttle to make it 1-0. Millikin would take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the first inning but Taylor Howe# (PICTURED RIGHT) tied the game at 2-2 when he led off the top of the second with his first career home run. Millikin again answered in the home half with a run to take a 3-2 lead. The Thunder took the lead for good in the top of the third inning with an RBI single by Justin Swider and a run-scoring single by Michael Kauffman to make it 4-3.

Tuttle set the table for Wheaton to add an insurance run in the top of the fifth inning with a lead off single before stealing second base. Swider followed with an RBI single through the left side that made it 5-3. Cato's two-out double in the top of the seventh expanded the lead to 6-3 heading into the chaotic eighth inning. John Johnson dealt the first blow of the eighth inning with a two-run home run. Four batters later, Swider launched a three-run home run to left field that gave the Thunder an 11-3 lead. Two batters later, Kyle Mellinger got in on the action with a solo home run for his first career four-bagger that gave the Thunder an eight-run lead.

Millikin would not go away, however. The Big Blue plated four runs in the bottom of the eighth before a bases loaded inning-ending double play minimized the damage but cut the lead to 12-7, which would become the final score.

Pitching took over in the second game of the doubleheader as Kauffman battled Millikin's Evan West. Deadlocked after the first two innings, Johnson and Matt Krause (PICTURED LEFT)led off the third inning with back-to-back home runs to give Wheaton a 2-0 lead. For Krause, it was his first career home run. Phil Tuttle's RBI single in the fifth and Jake Portugal's sacrifice fly in the sixth inning would provide the rest of the offense for the Thunder.

On the mound, Kauffman held Millikin scoreless until the Big Blue posted a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Kauffman would finish with only one earned run allowed in seven innings of work with seven strikeouts. Casey Moll closed out the game with two innings of scoreless relief to earn his first career save.

Wheaton will return to action on Monday when they travel to Elmhurst for the conclusion of a suspended game from last week. Wheaton lead 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth inning. The Thunder will continue their road trip on Tuesday with a road game at Benedictine University at 6 PM. Wheaton will conclude their series with Millikin on Wednesday night with a 6 PM game in Decatur.