PICTURED ABOVE: Matt Schappell extended his hit streak to eight games with two hits on Friday against North Central.

Naperville, Ill. – The Thunder baseball team dropped a 13-1 decision to North Central College on Friday morning in the first elimination game of the 2015 CCIW Baseball Tournament. Wheaton (21-21) bows out of the tournament with the loss and North Central will face either Carthage or Illinois Wesleyan at 4:00 p.m. in the second elimination game of the double-elimination tournament.

The Cardinals topped the Thunder this morning with 13 runs, on 12 hits, with no errors and Wheaton plated one run, on seven hits with three errors. Six Thunder pitchers worked in the game today, totaling 13 runs, including seven earned runs, on 12 hits, with 11 walks and five strikeouts. Starting pitcher Michael Kaufman (5-5) took the loss.

Matt Schappell extended his hit streak to eight games with a 2-for-4 effort at the plate today. Kyle Mellinger, Johnny Peltz, Matt Krause, Andrew Laucella and Casey Moll each collected singles to help account for Wheaton's seven hits in the game.

The Cardinals reached the scoreboard early with four runs in the top of the fourth inning. NCC added one more run in the top of the fifth and five runs in the top of the sixth inning to take a 10-0 lead. Moll's pinch-hit single through the left side of the infield in the bottom of the seventh inning drove in Laucella to cut the North Central lead to 10-1. The Cardinals added three runs in the top of the ninth inning to account for the 13-1 final score.