Carol Stream, Ill. -- The Wheaton baseball team finally got their home schedule underway on Monday afternoon, as the Thunder hosted Saint Mary's (Minn.) for a nonconference doubleheader that represented the first of two Wheaton Invitationals this week. Unfortunately for the hosts, home field advantage did not win out on the day, as the visiting Cardinals won both contests. Today's pair of losses drops Wheaton's record to 3-9 on the young season.
The Thunder had not played a game for nine days coming into today's meeting, but the side did not let Saint Mary's freshness affect them in the early stages of the first game.
Ben Weaver supplied the only hit of the first two innings, and the opening two and a half frames ended scoreless as a result of some accurate pitching and tight fielding. Eventually, Wheaton broke the deadlock in the bottom of the third when
Harrison Stanton blasted a solo home run over the right field wall to earn Wheaton's first home score of the season. But the celebrations were soon cut short, as Saint Mary's designated hitter answered in kind on the very first pitch of the fourth inning. Just as it seemed like the game might turn into a barnburner, however, the pitchers and fielders wrestled control back from the sluggers and the next two innings passed without any score.
Finally, in the bottom of the sixth frame, Weaver smacked a double out to center field to put himself in scoring position. Teammate
Joe Klein, determined to make the most of the opportunity, promptly doubled down the left field line himself, and brought Weaver in for the go-ahead score. The Thunder managed to get runners on third and first base in the following order, but two strikeouts prevented Wheaton from stretching their lead past 2-1. The Cardinals left it late, but the visitors overcame their slim deficit in the final frame of the seven-inning game by connecting on an RBI double to tie the game before singling to left field to bring the base runner on third across home plate to take a 3-2 lead. Wheaton's defense got off the field before SMU's batters could inflict any more damage, but it was already too late. The Thunder went three-up, three-down in the bottom of the seventh, and their one-run lead became a disappointing defeat by the same margin.
Stanton once again led the way for Wheaton offensively, earning one run and one hit off of his aforementioned homer. Weaver did not collect an RBI this time, but did pick up a team-high two hits.
Joe Klein and
Mason Diel registered the other two hits for the Thunder in game one. Both teams posted five hits, but Wheaton committed the contest's only error, and it proved to be a costly one, allowing a Cardinals runner to reach second base in the top of the seventh inning before eventually scoring the tying run. In six innings on the mound,
Alex Vlaisavich gave up four hits and three runs, but he also struck out four Cardinals opponents and only walked two.
Brendan Dyer conceded one hit from the three batters he faced in the final inning.
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Wheaton did not have much time to shake off the late defeat in game one, as the second portion of Monday afternoon's doubleheader began soon after. The nine-inning affair got off to a rough start for the hosts, as Saint Mary's opened the scoring with a two-RBI deep shot to left field. This early tally helped the visitors establish a lead that they would not relinquish throughout the remainder of the contest. After both offenses fired blanks in the following frames, the Cardinals pushed their advantage to three runs in the third inning following a triple blast. But Wheaton bit back on the first pitch of their offensive series, as
Larken Lancaster wasted no time in cranking a home run over the left field wall off of the first pitch he faced all day. After muzzling the Cardinals' batters in the top of the fourth, Wheaton chipped away at the deficit again as
Ben Weaver echoed his teammate's style by putting a solo homer into right field in the first at-bat. But the Thunder couldn't manage to tie the score in the same series, and a sacrifice fly RBI in the next exchange restored SMU's two-run edge. Wheaton only posted three more hits after the fourth inning, and a bases-loaded opportunity in the bottom of the eighth with the scoreline reading 6-2 in the guests' favor was the only real chance the Thunder had at rescuing a victory. Saint Mary's waited until the last possible moment to snatch a victory in Game 1, but the second act was a different story as the Cardinals got on top early and never looked back. Despite plenty of bright moments on both sides of the ball in Monday's matchups, the Thunder will be disappointed not to have earned a win in their home opener, particularly in the day's first game.
Joe Klein picked up the loss on the mound for Wheaton in Game 2, but the junior did earn five strikeouts and made one of the plays of the day by snagging a ball that was lasered right back in his direction off of a Cardinal swing.
Bjorn Bostrom had an excellent showing in two innings of relief pitching, posting three strikeouts and not allowing a single SMU batter on base.
Lancaster and Stanton each led the team with two hits in Monday's second game, while the former also earned a solo RBI.
Ben Weaver did likewise off of his one hit, and
Graham Core,
Matthias Haggerty, and
Jacob Snyder joined the junior on one hit each. Once again, the two sides earned the same number of hits with Wheaton committing one error to SMU's zero. The Cardinals simply did a better job of capitalizing on their chances, and managed to earn a comfortable win, despite the tight box score lines.
Fortunately for the Thunder, they will not have to wait long to get back into the win column. Wheaton's game against IIT has been rescheduled for next Wednesday at 5 PM, so the team will return to Lee Pfund Stadium this Friday evening for the second Wheaton Invitational. The Thunder are slated to host Concordia (Minn.), College of St. Scholastica, and Northland in the weekend's competition.
