Carol Stream, Ill. - An early offensive outburst set the tone for the Thunder baseball team on Saturday night as Wheaton snapped a four-game losing skid with a 13-7 victory over Calvin University. After winning its first three games of the weekend, Calvin falls to 3-1 with the loss while Wheaton improves to 2-4. The Thunder will open conference play on Tuesday night with a 5 pm first pitch against Millikin University at Lee Pfund Stadium.

Wheaton set season highs with 13 runs scored and 14 hits while Calvin plated nine runs on 12 hits. Both teams made two defensive errors. AJ Dhus earned the win on the mound, scattering five hits and allowing two unearned runs over 4.2 innings of relief work. Mason Packwood earned the save, allowing two runs, one earned, in two innings of work with four strikeouts. Alex Hanvey allowed one run over two innings of work to open the game.

After a bases-loaded hit by pitch gave Calvin the early lead in the top of the first innings, Wheaton answered immediately with Ben Weaver leading off the bottom of the first inning with a triple and scoring on Graham Core's subsequent sacrifice fly. Mason Packwood singled later in the inning and came in to score on a balk before Jesse Welch stole third and came in to score when the throw sailed into left field, giving Wheaton a 3-1 lead.

Wheaton posted its largest inning of the season in the bottom of the second, starting with an infield single by Cale Lewis before he stole second base and came in to score on a triple by Matthias Haggerty. Weaver followed with an RBI single and came in to score on a two-run single by Noah Ritchie. Jesse Welch capped the inning with a two-run triple to post Wheaton to a 9-1 lead after two innings.

Calvin came firing back with four runs in the top of the third inning and pulled within two later in the game when the Knights plated two runs in the top of the seventh inning to trail 9-7. A two-out single by Weaver in the bottom of the seventh inning pushed the lead to three before Wheaton put the game away with three runs in the bottom of the eighth on a sacrifice fly by Jesse Welch, an RBI groundout by Joe Klein and a run-scoring triple by Ben Weaver, pushing the final tally to 13-7.

Ben Weaver and Mattias Haggerty each finished with three hits including a double and a triple to pace the Thunder offense. Mason Packwood scored a game-high three runs and Weaver and Cale Lewis each scored twice. Jesse Welch led the Thunder with three runs driven in.