Kenosha, Wis. - Wheaton baseball got off to a quick start and never looked back on Wednesday night in winning their third-straight game with a 10-5 victory over Carthage. The Thunder batted around and plated six runs in the top of the first inning to land an early knockout blow and improve to 3-0 in CCIW action and 5-4 overall. Carthage falls to 4-3 overall and 0-2 in the CCIW. Wheaton returns to Lee Pfund Stadium on Saturday afternoon for a 1 pm doubleheader against Illinois Wesleyan.

The Thunder offense put each of the first four batters on base to start the game and broke the game open early when Joel Pierce unclogged the bases with a three-run doubles that put Wheaton ahead 5-0. Cale Lewis followed with an RBI single to make it 6-0 before Carthage came to the plate. Wheaton starter Brendan Dyer made the Thunder lead stand up by scattering seven hits over five innings of work with one strikeout and one work.

While Dyer held down the Firebirds attack, Wheaton added another run in the top of the third inning when Matthias Haggerty drew a two-out walk with the bases loaded. Carthage answered with its first tally against Dyer in the bottom of the third inning, but the Thunder starter stranded the bases loaded to preserve the 7-1 lead. The Firebirds tacked on two more runs on a two-out home run in the bottom of the fourth inning to pull within 7-3, but Carthage would get no closer.

A two-run single by Cale Lewis in the top of the fifth inning helped the Thunder rebuild its six-run lead while the Thunder bullpen took center stage down the stretch with Bjorn Bostrom pitching two scoreless innings of relief. Lewis started another rally in the top of eighth with a single and stolen base before scoring on a wild pitch. Carthage would post two runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to pull within 10-5, but Alex Hanvey closed the door on the rally with a scoreless ninth inning of work.

Cale Lewis led the Thunder offense with three hits and three runs driven in. Joel Pierce also drove in three runs with two hits. Sam Reichert and Ben Weaver each drew two walks with Reicert scoring three runs. Joe Klein scored two runs by reaching base three times via walks.