Elmhurst, Ill. - The Wheaton baseball team kicked off a three-game conference series on Friday night with a 4-3 victory over Elmhurst College. Wheaton's victory moves the Thunder to 14-6 on the season and 4-3 in conference play while dropping the Bluejays to a record of 8-11 and 2-4 in the CCIW. Wheaton will conclude their three-game set with the Bluejays on Saturday afternoon with a doubleheader beginning at 1 pm at Lee Pfund Stadium.

Sam Arnold's quality start led the Thunder on Friday night as the sophomore moved to 2-1 this season by scattering nine hits over seven innings. Arnold allowed three runs, two earned, while walking two batters and striking out five. Jacob Garrity and David Solfelt each threw a scoreless inning of relief with Solfelt earning his first career save.

Sam Arnold and Elmhurst's Alex Kielion traded scoreless innings over the first three innings before Wheaton struck quickly to open the fourth inning. Ben Brittain opened the inning with a deep fly ball to center field that went off the glove of the Bluejay center fielder, allowing Brittain to reach third. Joel Pierce followed quickly with his fourth home run of the season to put the Thunder ahead 2-0.

Elmhurst took advantage of two Thunder errors in the bottom of the fifth inning to push across two runs, but Wheaton answered immediately to retake the lead in the top of the sixth inning. Brett Albaugh opened the inning with a single and moved around to score on Sam Reichert's two-out single. After Arnold stranded a pair of runners to end the sixth inning, Wheaton added to its lead in the top of the seventh when Connor Hartman doubled and scored to put Wheaton ahead 4-2.

An RBI double by Tyler Kledzik in the bottom of of the seventh inning pulled the Bluejays back to within a run heading into the bottom of the eighth inning. Elmhurst nearly tied the game on the first pitch of the bottom of the eighth inning, but left fielder Jesse Welch retreated to the fence to take away a possible home run with a catch at the wall for the first out of the inning. The Bluejays pushed the tying run to third in the bottom of the ninth inning but Solfelt induced a pop out to end the game and preserve the victory.