PICTURED ABOVE: Matt Schappell had two hits and scored a run in Wheaton's 5-2 victory at Millikin on Friday.

Decatur, Ill. - The Thunder baseball team opened play in the CCIW by defeating Millikin 5-2 on Friday afternoon. Playing its first true road game of the season, Wheaton broke the game open with a three-run sixth inning to take a four-run lead. John Schmitz went the distance for the Thunder as Wheaton improved to 6-11 on the season. Millikin falls to 8-7 overall. Wheaton will finish the three-game series with a doubleheader in Decatur starting at 1 PM on Saturday.

Wheaton scored its five runs on nine hits and committed six errors for the second consecutive game. Millikin was limited to two runs on just six hits and made three errors. Schmitz improved to 2-2 on the season by allowing just one earned run over nine innings for Wheaton's second complete game of the season.

After three quiet innings, Wheaton scored the game's first run with an Alex MaLossi single through the right side of the infield to score Matt Schappell. Millikin took advantage of three Thunder errors in the bottom of the inning to score a two-out run to tie the game.

Matt Krause's sacrifice fly in the top of the fifth inning game Wheaton the lead for good. Wheaton's three-run sixth came on an RBI single by Kyle Mellinger, an RBI triple by Andrew Laucella (PICTURED RIGHT) and a run-scoring ground out by Kyle Trivits. Millikin would score a run in the bottom of the seventh to account for the final score.

Johnny Peltz was two-for-three with a run scored and a run driven in. Matt Schappell was two-for-five with a run scored.