GAME STATS 1 | GAME STATS 2 PICTURED ABOVE: Peter Newman drove in four runs including a three-run home run in Wheaton's 15-4 win over Sewanee on Friday afternoon.

Sewanee, Tenn. - The Thunder baseball team opened its 2017 campaign on Friday afternoon with a doubleheader split against the Sewanee Tigers. Wheaton dropped game one 10-5 before salvaging the split with a 15-4 win in the nightcap. Wheaton (1-1) will finish its three-game set with the Sewanee (4-6) at 1 pm on Saturday.

Wheaton tallied five runs on 10 hits with three games in the opener and 15 runs on 17 hits with two errors in game two. Sewanee scored 10 runs on 16 hits with three errors in the lidlifter and four runs on 13 hits and 1 error in the nightcap.

Wheaton's offense kicked into gear in game two with a one-out triple by John McKenna in the top of the third inning. McKenna was quickly drive in by a sacrifice fly by Noah Ritchie to tie the game at 1-1. Nick Mailman followed with a walk and scored two batters later on a double by Peter Newman. Sewanee tied the game with a lead-off home run in the bottom of the third inning but Brett Albaugh answered with a solo shot of his own in the top of the fourth to give Wheaton the lead for good at 3-2.

Albaugh's blast opened the gates for a six-run inning for the Thunder. Jacob Zeller's two-run single pushed the lead to 5-2 and Newman blasted a three-run home run to open up an 8-2 advantage. An RBI double by Mailman and a three-run blast by Johnny Peltz (PICTURED RIGHT) in the top of the sixth inning highlighted a five-run inning. Mailman's two-run blast in the top of the seventh inning accounted for Wheaton's final tallies.

Christian Bolhuis earned the victory for the Thunder, allowing three runs and striking out five in six innings of work. Newman collected three hits and drove in seven runs in the Thunder win. Brett Albaugh and Noah Ritchie each had two hits with Ritchie scoring three runs. Mailman and Peltz each drove in three runs.

Wheaton fell behind 5-0 in the first game before Peltz put Wheaton on the board with a solo home run in the top of the sixth inning. Sewanee answered with three in the bottom of the sixth and two in the bottom of the seventh to lead 10-1. The Thunder rallied in the top of the eighth inning when Mailman was hit by a pitch and Jacob Zeller singled to start the inning. Mailman came in to score on a double steal when the throw to third skipped into left field. Zeller would come in to score on a Peltz single. Peltz would later steal second and score on McKenna's two-out single. Zeller would score Wheaton's final run in the top of the ninth inning on Newman's double.

Wheaton will conclude its three-game series with the Tigers on Saturday with a 1 pm first pitch.