Carol Stream, Ill. - Jacob Garrity set the tone on the mound in game one and his teammates answered at the plate in game two as the Thunder swept a doubleheader from Blackburn College on Saturday. Wheaton rallied late to force extra innings and win game one by a score of 2-1 and then exploded in game two for a 14-2 run-rule victory over the Beavers. Wheaton improves to 8-16 overall on the year while the Beavers fall to 4-14 overall. Wheaton will be in action at Lee Pfund Stadium again on Tuesday night when the Thunder host 14th-ranked North Central for a 5 pm first pitch.

Playing a seven-inning game to open the doubleheader, Blackburn jumped out to a quick lead just three batters into the game when a one-out double coupled with an error was followed by a groundout to give the Beavers a quick 1-0 lead. Faced with the early deficit, the Thunder rallied often throughout the game but were repeatedly turned away. Wheaton put runners on the corners with one out in the bottom of the second and third innings but a double play ball and a strike out/batter's interference combo ended the respective rallies.

Harrison Stanton put Wheaton on the verge of a run in the bottom of the fifth inning with a one-out triple but was stranded 90 feet away as the Beavers held on to the 1-0 lead. While his offense struggled to break through, Garrity was in complete control on the mound. Following a two-out walk in the top of the second, Garrity sat down 16 consecutive batters including seven of his 10 strikeouts for the game. After stranding another two runners in the bottom of the sixth, Stanton again sparked the rally with a one-out triple to left center field. Graham Core followed with a sacrifice fly to right field to tie the score at 1-1 and force extra innings.

A one-out error brought Garrity's shutdown streak to an end, but the Thunder senior bounced back to retire the next to hitters, closing the eighth inning with his 10th strikeout of the game. Ben Weaver opened the bottom of the eighth inning with a leadoff walk and Noah Ritchie followed with a single before Matthias Haggerty laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runners into scoring position. Blackburn loaded the bases with an intentional walk and nearly escaped the jam after a short fly out for the second out of the inning. However, freshman Clayton Moore came through in the clutch for the Thunder roping a walkoff single to deep left center field to drive in Weaver with the game-ending run.

Game two took on a different feel with Wheaton scoring first on a ground-rule double by Noah Ritchie to lead off the bottom of the second inning. After a pair of fly outs, Ritchie moved to third and quickly came in to score on successive passed balls to put the Thunder ahead 1-0. Blackburn quickly threatened to answer, putting runners on second and third with one out in the top of the third but Stanton stamped out the rally by throwing out the runner trying to score from third on a fly ball for an emphatic inning-ending double play.

The Beavers would pull even at 1-1 with a run in the top of the fourth, but the tie would be very shortlived. Weaver led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a hustle double to right center and after a walk to Ritchie, a double steal put both in scoring position. Graham Core followed with a single up the middle to break the tie and set the tone for the remainder of the inning that saw the Thunder consistently shoot the ball back up the middle. Core stole second before a two-run single by Joel Pierce made it 4-1. Pierce would bookend the rally with another two-run single later in the inning as the Thunder scored 10 runs on nine hits to take a commanding 11-1 lead.

Wheaton added three more runs in the bottom of the sixth when Larken Lancaster tripled home Noah Yi and Matt Nelson and later came in to score on a Kyle Wu groundout. With the offense in control, Sam Arnold deftly navigated seven hits allowed in his five innings of work, allowing just one run without surrendering a walk. AJ Dhus allowed a seventh-inning run in his two innings of work before the run rule brought an end to a 14-2 victory.

Noah Ritchie scored a game-high three runs with two hits and two runs driven in. Joel Pierce drove in four in a two-hit game and Ben Weaver and Graham Core each had two hits with two runs scored and two stolen bases.