Chicago, Ill. - The Thunder baseball team split a doubleheader on Saturday against the North Park Vikings, claiming the opener with an 11-1 victory in eight innings before dropping the rubber match of the series 8-4 in the nightcap. North Park moves its record to 14-11 overall and 7-6 in the CCIW. Wheaton will enter Tuesday's doubleheader at Illinois Wesleyan with a record of 18-8 and 8-5 in conference play.
Wheaton opened the day with an 11-1 run-rule victory behind a complete game performance from
Michael McCraith. McCraith improved to 5-1 on the mound this season by scattering six hits and allowing one run while striking out five batters.
The Thunder jumped on top in the top of the second starting with
Jesse Welch's RBI single.
Matthias Haggerty added to Wheaton's lead later in the inning with a sacrifice fly to right field to push the score to 2-0. Wheaton broke the game open in the top of the fourth inning with five runs on five hits and a pair of Viking errors.
Jacob Garrity's two-run double started teh score. Garrity would later score on
Ben Brittain's single to left field. Later in the inning
Caleb Grotelueschen drove in a run with a fielder's choice and
Brett Albaugh added a sacrifice fly to put Wheaton ahead 7-0.
North Park got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the sixth inning, but Wheaton answered in the top of the seventh inning with two runs on a sacrifice fly by
Noah Ritchie and another RBI single by Welch. Albaugh's two-run single in the top of the eighth inning closed Wheaton's scoring account and pushed the Thunder to the run-rule victory.
Five Wheaton batters recorded multi-hit games with Albaugh driving in three runs and Welch and Garrity adding two RBIs apiece. Grotelueschen and Ritchie each scored twice.
After both teams wasted scoring opportunities early in game two,
Sam Reichert started the top of the fifth inning with a solo home run to left field to give Wheaton the first run of the game. Three consecutive singles followed to load the bases before Albaugh extended the inning two batters later by reaching on a fielder's choice that plated a run. Albaugh proceeded to steal second base which allowed
Connor Hartman to come home on the throw, giving Wheaton a 3-0 advantage.
The Vikings responded with two runs in the bottom of the inning but
Sam Arnold was able to strand the bases loaded to keep Wheaton in the lead. Haggerty added to Wheaton's lead in the top of the sixth inning to push the lead to 4-2. North Park tied the score with two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning on a two-out double. Wheaton loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the eighth inning but could not captalize, allowing North Park to ride the momentum to a four-run bottom of the eighth to pull away for the 8-4 victory.
Haggerty paced the Thunder offense in game two with three hits and a run batted in.
Wheaton will open a busy week on Tuesday with a doubleheader at Illinois Wesleyan before kicking off a three-game series with Augustana on Friday with a doubleheader at Lee Pfund Stadium.
