GAME STATS 1 | GAME STATS 2 PICTURED ABOVE: Josh Kimmel went 4-6 with two triples in Wheaton's victory over Bethany Lutheran on Monday afternoon.

Tucson, Ariz.- The Wheaton baseball team earned a pair of victories on Monday to improve to 4-2 on the season. Wheaton opened with a 6-4 victory over Wesleyan University and capped its day with a wild 14-13 victory over Bethany Lutheran College in 10 innings. Wheaton has now won its first three games on its annual spring trip and has played five straight games decided by two or less runs. Wheaton will face Wesleyan University again on Tuesday at 11 AM Pacific Time.

In the opener, Wheaton scored one run in each of the first four innings to build a 4-1 lead over the Wesleyan Cardinals. The Thunder built its lead despite having only one hit in the first four frames. Behind the pitching of Evan Rahn (PICTURED RIGHT), Wheaton held its three-run lead until the seventh inning when the Cardinals loaded the bases on three consecutive two-out singles. Rahn responded with an emphatic strikeout to end the threat and maintain the lead.

Wesleyan would get to the Thunder starter for two runs in the top of the eighth inning to cut the deficit to 4-3 heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. A leadoff single by Justin Swider proceded Trey Martin being hit by a pitch. A lineout by John Jensen-Johnson moved both runners into scoring position and set-up Jake Portugal's two-run single into left field that reestablished Wheaton's three-run advantage. Wesleyan was able to get one run in the top of the ninth but Andrew Bayer closed out the game to earn his second save of the season and the 6-4 Thunder victory.

Portugal, Swider and Taylor Howe each had two RBIs in the win. Rahn struck out six and allowed only three earned runs in 7.2 innings of work.

The Thunder fell behind 3-0 in the top of the first inning against Bethany Lutheran but answered and set the tone for the ensuing action with a four-run third inning. Michael Szalach started the inning with a double and scored on a sacrifice fly by Matt Schappell. Swider's RBI single cut the lead to one run and Trey Martin's two-run double down the third base line followed by a Johnson single, gave Wheaton a 4-3 lead. Josh Kimmel's two-run triple in the bottom of the fourth pushed the lead to 6-3 and a towering fifth inning home run by Martin (PICTURED LEFT) extended the lead to 7-3.

After Matt Ferretti tripled and scored in the sixth inning to give Wheaton a five-run lead, the Vikings came charging back with a five-run seventh inning that knotted the game at eight. John Jensen-Johnson started the Wheaton seventh with a triple and came home on a wild pitch to retake the lead for the Thunder. Szalach's RBI single later in the inning gave Wheaton a 10-8 lead at the end of the seventh inning.

Bethany Lutheran again answered rallied to tie the game with a pair of runs in the top of the eighth. As they had the inning before, Wheaton came back with two runs in the home half of the eighth inning highlighted by Swider's RBI triple that gave Wheaton an 11-10 lead. Swider would score on Martin's single to give Wheaton a 12-10 lead heading into the ninth inning. The Vikings used a pair of two-out hits to plate three runs in the top of the ninth inning and retake the lead at 13-12.

Down to its last out in the home half of the ninth inning, Wheaton tied the game in the home half of the ninth inning on Kimmel's second triple of the game and forced the game into extra innings. After a hold in the top of the tenth inning, Swider led off the Thunder tenth with a deep double to left field. Three batters later, Kyle Mellinger  ripped a line drive into the left field corner that easily plated Swider and gave Wheaton the walk-off victory. John Schmitz pitched a scoreless inning of work in his first career appearance with the Thunder to earn the win on the mound.