Carol Stream, Ill. - An early offensive outburst helped lead the Thunder baseball to an 8-5 victory over Illinois Wesleyan in the CCIW-opener for both squads on Wednesday night. The victory closes a five-game home stand for the Thunder which saw Wheaton (11-3, 1-0 CCIW) record four victories. The loss is the fifth-straight for the Titans, who drop to 7-8 overall and 0-1 in the CCIW. Wheaton will continue its conference schedule on Friday, when the Thunder head to Millikin for the first of a three-game weekend series in Decatur.

Wheaton tallied its eight runs on 13 hits while submitted a clean defensive evening. The Titans pushed across five runs on 14 hits with four errors. Kevin Champlin earned the victory for the Thunder, improving to 2-0 on the season with seven innings of work. The Thunder freshman allowed just two runs on nine hits with five strikeouts. Jacob Garrity allowed one run in an inning of relief and David Solfelt allowed two runs with two strikeouts in one inning of work.

Ben Brittain led the offensive attack with three hits including a double and a triple, and three runs scored with two runs driven in. Noah Ritchie drove in two runs with a pair of hits and CCIW Hitter of the Week Evan Ogden doubled and scored two runs as part of a two-hit night.

Wheaton struck quickly in the bottom of the second inning when Evan Ogden singled and Ben Brittain followed with a triple and came in to score on a Titan throwing error for an early 2-0 lead. AJ Dhus followed with a walk and came in to score on a double by Matthias Haggerty, who scored on a pinch-hit single by Jesse Welch, pushing the lead to 4-0.

Brittain keyed a third inning rally as well, doubling in Joel Pierce and coming in to score on Noah Ritchie's single up the middle. Illinois Wesleyan cut into the lead with a run in the top of the fifth and sixth innings to pull within 6-2, but Wheaton answered in the bottom of the seventh with another RBI single by Ritchie and a sacrifice fly by Sam Reichert.

Trailing 8-2, the Titans were able to push across a run in the top of the eighth and two more in the top of the ninth to pull within 8-5 but Solfelt slammed the door on the comeback attempt with a strikeout to close the game.