PICTURED ABOVE: Brett Albaugh hit a home run and collected a double in today's opening game. 

Carol Stream, Ill. - The Wheaton baseball team (12-10, 2-4 CCIW) hosted Elmhurst for a key CCIW doubleheader on Thursday night at Lee Pfund Stadium. Elmhurst (10-8, 4-1 CCIW) swept the Thunder as the Bluejays won today's opener 9-2 and the guests accomplished the sweep with a 10-5 victory in the second game.

Elmhurst won today's opener 9-2 as the Bluejays scored nine runs, on 14 hits, with zero errors and the Thunder tallied two runs on five hits with no errors. Thunder starting pitcher Christian Bolhuis (3-2) took the loss in 2-2/3 innings. Bolhuis allowed five runs, on six hits, with three walks. Josiah Longenecker pitched 2-1/3 innings of relief, allowing three runs, on four hits with one walk and one strikeout. Ty Hoeksema tossed one inning of scoreless relief as he allowed one hit and struck out one batter. Casey Balikian pitched three innings of relief as he allowed one unearned run on three hits with two walks and one strikeout.

Thunder second baseman Brett Albaugh registered two of Wheaton's five hits in the game. He collected a home run and double for the hosts. Jacob Zeller, Ben Brittain and Andy Zuber added singles for the Thunder.

Elmhurst scored twice in the top of the second inning to gain a 2-0 advantage. Albaugh hit a solo home run to right center field in the bottom of the second to trim the Bluejays' lead to 2-1. The guests scored three runs in the top of the second inning to extend the Elmhurst lead to 5-1.

The Bluejays scored three runs on the top of the sixth inning to give the guests an 8-1 lead that was extended to 9-1 with another Elmhurst run in the top of the seventh inning. A sacrifice fly by Zuber drove Brittain home in the bottom of the seventh inning to account for the 9-2 final score.

The Bluejays battled back to earn a 10-5 victory in the second game. Elmhurst scored 10 runs, on 12 hits, with no errors and Wheaton registered five runs, on 10 hits with two errors. Thunder starting pitcher Kyle Ferraro pitched six innings. Ferraro allowed four runs, on eight hits, with two walks and five strikeouts. Releiver John Schmitz (1-3) took the loss in three innings of work. Schmitz allowed six runs, with just one earned run, on four hits with two walks and one strikeout. 

First baseman Peter Newman was 2-for-5 in the game, with a double, one run scored and a RBI. Senior outfielder Johnny Peltz was 2-for-5 with a run scored. Clay Morrison hit a pinch hit double for the hosts.

Elmhurst scored three runs in the top of the third inning and added one run in the top of the fourth to take a 4-0 lead. Wheaton tied the contest at 4-4 with four runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Brittain drove in Wheaton's first run of the game with a RBI-single through the right side of the infield. Peltz and Brittain scored on consecutive wild pitches to cut the guests lead to 4-3. Wheaton tied the game at 4-4 on a RBI-sacrifice fly by Nick Mailman that brought John McKenna home.

Elmhurst regained the lead to 6-4 with two runs in the top for he seventh inning. Wheaton trimmed the Bluejays' lead to 6-5 with a run in the bottom of the seventh as Newman drove in a run with a RBI-double to left centerfield. Elmhurst scored four unearned runs on a grand slam in the top of the ninth inning to account for the 10-5 final score.

Wheaton returns to action on Friday with a conference game at Caroll. Friday's matchup will start at 6:00 p.m. in Wakesha, Wisconsin. The game was originally scheduled for April 5, but was rained out and rescheduled for tomorrow. Wheaton remains on the road Saturday for a doubleheader at North Park that begins at 2:00 p.m. in Chicago.