GAME STATS 1 | GAME STATS 2 PICTURED ABOVE: Michael Kauffman threw a complete game for the victory in game and Josh Kimmel had five hits in Saturday's doubleheader at Augustustana.

Moline, Ill.- In the midst of a heated race for the final spot in the upcoming CCIW Tournament, the Thunder dominated game one and let a late lead slip away in splitting a doubleheader at Augustana on Saturday. Wheaton jumped out early in both games and won game one 4-1, but a five-run seventh inning pushed the Vikings, ranked 16th in this week's D3baseball.com poll, to an 8-7 victory in the second game and gave Augustana the series victory. Wheaton is now 11-22 on the season and 7-10 in CCIW play while the Vikings improve to 26-7 and 12-5 in the conference.

Wheaton jumped on Augustana starter Jared McIntosh early in game one and took advantage of several defensive mistakes by the Vikings. Josh Kimmel led off the game with a bunt single and later came around to score on a passed ball to give the Thunder the early 1-0 lead. An inning later, Taylor Howe reached base on an error with one out and was followed by consecutive singles to load the bases. An RBI fielder's choice by Matt Krause, an RBI single by Phil Tuttle and a run-scoring single by Justin Swider (PICTURED RIGHT) gave Wheaton a 4-0 lead at the end of the inning and chased McIntosh from the game. The Thunder had runners thrown out at home in both the first and second innings.

In relief of McIntosh, Brandon Bollman held the Thunder in check for the rest of the game, scattering six hits across seven scoreless innings while striking out four and giving the Vikings an opportunity to rally. The Vikings jumped on the board in the top of the third inning with one run that was aided by a Thunder error that cut the lead to 4-1. After the third inning, Wheaton starter Michael Kauffman would allow only a single in the fourth and seventh innings for the rest of the game as he set down 18 of the last 19 hitters he faced in the game. Kauffman allowed just eight hits in the complete game while striking out five hitters with no walks.

The Thunder put the game one script on repeat to start game two, jumping out to a 4-0 lead after two innings and chasing the Vikings starter early in the contest. Making just the second start of his career, Freshman Michael Szalach opened the scoring with a two-out, two-run single in the top of the first. Swider added another two-out, two-run single in the top of the second inning to make it 4-0.

After a three-run fourth inning for Augustana cut the lead to 4-3, Desmond Cato (PICTURED LEFT) and Taylor Howe recorded RBI singles in the top of the fifth to extend the lead to 6-3. Still trailing by two runs, Augustana went to work in the bottom of the seventh with the aid of several walks by the Thunder pitchers. When the dust settled, the Vikings had pushed across five runs on just three hits and held an 8-6 lead.

An error, a single and walk loaded the bases with nobody out in the top of the eighth for the Thunder before Kyle Mellinger scampered home on a passed ball to cut the lead to 8-7. However, the Thunder could not bring home the tying run in the inning and the game headed to the top of the ninth with Augustana still clinging to a one-run lead. A pinch-hit single by Ethan Ogden put the tying run on base and pinch runner Matt Ferretti moved around to third base with two outs, but the tying run again remained 90 feet away as the Vikings claimed the game and the series with an 8-7 victory.

Wheaton will travel to Decatur, Ill. on Tuesday night for the final game of their series with Millikin University on Tuesday night at 6 PM.