Carol Stream, Ill. - A five-run eighth inning in the nightcap of Saturday's doubleheader helped the Thunder baseball team salvage a split of both the doubleheader and the season series against the North Park Vikings. After a mad scramble in the first game came up short in a 13-11 loss, Wheaton scored five runs in the bottom of the eighth inning to prevail in game two 10-9. Wheaton is now 9-19 overall and 5-15 in the CCIW. North Park moves to 13-14 overall and 8-14 in the CCIW. Wheaton will next be in action on Wednesday when the Thunder travel to Carroll for a 1 pm doubleheader.

Wheaton rallied twice in Saturday's nightcap, erasing a 4-1 deficit in the bottom of the third inning when Harrison Stanton tripled home Tyler Weiner and came in to score on Jesse Welch's sacrifice fly. Ben Weaver followed with a single and stole second base before coming in to score later in the inning on a wild pitch. North Park rebuilt its lead with two runs in the top of the fourth inning, but another sacrifice fly by Welch in the bottom of the fifth inning brought Wheaton back to within 6-5. Two more runs in the seventh and another in the eighth pushed the lead out to 8-4, setting up Wheaton's dramatic eighth inning rally.

Welch opened the action with a one-out double to right field and came in to score on Ben Weaver's single up the middle. Three batters later, Matthias Haggerty ripped a two-run double to left field bringing the Thunder back within a run at 8-7. Graham Core's ground-rule double to left center plated Haggerty and spelled the end of the day for Justin Woolbright on the mound. On the first pitch following the pitching change, Core broke for third base with his 18th stolen base of the year and trotted home with the go-ahead run when the throw from the catcher sailed into left field.

Matt Abruzzo entered for the ninth inning and nailed down is first save of the season with a scoreless inning of work. Bjorn Bostrom earned the win for the Thunder after allowing one run in one inning of work. Ben Weaver recorded three of Wheaton's 11 hits, driving in two runs along with Jesse Welch. Harrison Stanton and Tyler Weiner also recorded multi-hit games.

Game one of Saturday's doubleheader appeared to be heading for an early finish as the Vikings used a five-run second inning to build an 11-1 lead after five and a half innings of play. Wheaton came roaring back in the bottom of the sixth inning when the Thunder posted eight runs on six hits to get within 11-9. A two-run double by Haggerty and a two-run single by Richie were the big blows in the inning that also saw runs score on a bases loaded walk and hit by pitch.

Jake Reinhardt put the Vikings up 13-9 in the top of the seventh inning with the third of what would be four weekend home runs, but Wheaton came back again with two runs in the bottom of the eighth on a Haggerty RBI single and a wild pitch that allowed Weaver to score. Wheaton was able to get the tying run on base with two outs in the bottom of the ninth inning but couldn't chip further into the lead in the 13-11 loss that saw both teams record 15 hits.

Weaver and Ritchie each had three-hit games and scored a pair of runs. Haggerty drove in three runs and recorded a two-hit game along with Joel Pierce and Harrison Stanton.

Note Worthy: Graham Core is now tied for 10th in program history with 18 stolen bases in a single season with Chris Parr (1994), Bob McNeill (1967), and Josh Weaver (2008). He is the fourth player in program history to steal 18 or more bases without a caught stealing joining Josh Weaver and Bob McNeill (18-18) and Brian Kolb (25-25, 2008).