Carol Stream, Ill. - The Thunder baseball team dropped the first of its three-game series with North Central on Friday night at Lee Pfund Stadium. The 9-2 victory clinches at least a share of the CCIW title for the Cardinals, who improved to 26-9 and 16-4 in the CCIW. Wheaton falls to 23-13 overall and 13-9 in conference play. Wheaton will conclude its regular season schedule tomorrow with a 12 pm doubleheader in Naperville.

North Central tallied its nine runs on 10 hits with no errors while Wheaton scored twice on six hits with one error. The Cardinals blitzed Thunder starter Michael McCraith for nine runs in 3.2 innings of work. Luke Kram slowed the Cardinal offense with 3.1 innings of scoreless relief. AJ Dhus finished the game with two scoreless innings. Austin Polezoes earned the win for the Cardinals, surrendering two runs in 7.1 innings.

The Cardinals broke a scoreless tie with six runs in the top of the third inning and three more in the top of the fourth inning. Wheaton got on the scoreboard in the fifth inning when Sam Reichert doubled to left field to score Jesse Welch. Brett Albaugh drove in Wheaton's second run with an RBI single following Nick Mailman's double in the bottom of the eighth inning.

Note Worthy: Prior to tonight's game, Wheaton honored seniors  Ben Brittain, Luke Kram, Nick Mailman, Michael McCraith, Clay Morrison, Evan Ogden, and Caleb Selk as part of their Senior Day festivities.