PICTURED ABOVE: Evan Ogden hit a game-tying home run in game two of Wheaton's doubleheader sweep of Bethany Lutheran on Friday.

Tucson, Ariz. – The Thunder baseball team swept a doubleheader from Bethany Lutheran College on Friday afternoon in the Tucson Invitation. Wheaton won game one 12-5 in six innings and came from behind for a 5-4 victory in game two. With the wins, Wheaton improves its record to 5-3 this season. Bethany Lutheran is now 4-4. Wheaton will close out its trip on Saturday morning against Cornell College.
 
Wheaton scored its 12 runs in the opener on 12 hits with no errors while holding the Vikings to five runs on eight hits while committing five errors. In the nightcap, Wheaton scored its five runs on 10 hits with three errors. Bethany Lutheran tallied four runs on six hits with two errors.
 
Bethany Lutheran jumped out to a quick 2-0 lead in the nightcap, striking for two runs off Ty Hoeksema in the bottom of the first inning. Wheaton chipped away at the lead, cutting the Viking advantage to 2-1 when Evan Ogden doubled and scored on Jacob Garrity's single to start the top of the second. The Thunder tied the game in the top of the third inning when Nick Mailman led off by reaching on an error and later came in to score on Ben Brittain's sacrifice fly.
 
The Vikings reclaimed the lead with a pair of runs in the home half of the fourth inning and held that lead until Wheaton rallied in the top of the sixth inning. Seth Meyer started the rally with a single up the middle, which was followed by a towering home run by Ogden to right-center field to tie the game at four. Graham Core extended the inning by reaching on an error with two outs and moved up when Mailman worked a walk. Jesse Welch then singled through the left side of the infield to plate Core and provide Wheaton with its first lead of the game.
 
Welch came on in relief of Hoeksema to throw a clean sixth inning and Nick Johnson nailed down his second save of the season to finish off the 5-4 victory. Ogden led the Thunder offense with three hits in game two, scoring two runs and driving in two runs. Welch and Garrity also had two hits.
 
Wheaton's offense came out firing in the lidlifter of the doubleheader, scoring in every inning and keeping constant pressure on the Viking defense. Despite falling behind 2-0 after the top of the first, Wheaton came charging back, tying the game just four hitters into the bottom of the first on RBI singles by Brittain and Johnny Peltz. Brittain later came in to score on an error and Peltz was driven home on a fielder's choice off the bat of Joel Pierce to give Wheaton a 4-2 lead.

Wheaton would add three runs in the bottom of the second inning but Bethany Lutheran closed the gap in the top of the third inning with two more runs off Thunder starter Michael McCraith. McCraith was able to sidestep further damage in the inning by stranding the bases loaded. Wheaton responded with two runs of its own on an RBI double by Brittain (PICTURED RIGHT) and a sacrifice fly by Peltz to push the lead to 9-4 after three innings.

The Thunder pushed across a run in the fourth and two more in the fifth on Morrison's RBI single and a ground-rule double by Garrity to extend the lead to 12-4. Bethany Lutheran would add a run in the top of the sixth to close the lead to 12-5 before the game was called due to inclement conditions in the middle of the sixth inning.

Eight of Wheaton's nine starters recorded a hit in the first game, led by Ben Brittain who had four hits, scored four runs and drove home two runs. Peltz and Morrison also drove home a pair of runs with Mailman, Welch and Peltz each scoring twice.