Tucson, Ariz. - The Wheaton baseball team played its final game in a week-long trip to Arizona on Saturday, as the Thunder faced Hamline University. The Pipers broke a scoreless tie with one run in the top of the ninth inning to defeat the Thunder 1-0.

Hamline scored one run, on four hit, with one error. The Thunder had zero runs, on four hits with one error. Wheaton starting pitcher Joe Klein was stellar on the mound in taking the tough one-run loss. Klein (1-2) worked a complete game with nine innings, as he scattered four hits, allowing one earned run. Klein struck out three Hamline batters and walked just one.

Thunder catcher Tyler Weiner had a pair of singles to collect two of Wheaton's four hits in the game. Ben Weaver and Matthias Haggerty each added a single for Wheaton in the contest.

Weaver collected Wheaton's first hit with a two-out single in the first inning and he advanced to second base on a walk drawn by Mason Diel. Wheaton couldn't capitalize on runners at first and second as the inning ended on a strikeout.

Wheaton had another scoring opportunity in the bottom of the seventh as Haggerty led off with a single. He advanced to second base on a wild pitch, and then the senior made it to third base on a two-out single by Weiner. Hamline hurler Zach Branson pitched his way out of the jam with his 11th strikeout of the game to keep the game scoreless.

Hamline tallied a one-out single in the top of the ninth inning, followed immediately by an RBI-double to take a 1-0 lead. Wheaton was three-up-and-three-down in the bottom of the ninth as the Pipers took the 1-0 victory.

The Thunder host the Wheaton Invitational next weekend at Pfund Stadium in Carol Stream. Wheaton's opening game of the tournament is next Friday at 5:00 p.m. against Luther College.