Tucson, AZ -- Looking to snap their five-game losing skid, the Wheaton baseball team came into Tuesday morning's contest against Bethany Lutheran College on the back of another ten-inning affair on Monday afternoon. Today's clash only lasted nine, but it still proved to be a marathon battle, and despite Wheaton's impressive fightback in the middle of the game, Bethany Lutheran eventually emerged victorious by a score of 15-8. This defeat drops Wheaton's overall record to 1-6, and the Thunder will have to wait a bit longer to pick up their second win of the season.

Unlike yesterday's matchup with Wabash, the opening innings of this morning's game saw plenty of scoring. Bethany Lutheran came out swinging, and put up three runs right off the bat, the latter two of which came via a two-RBI triple. Once Wheaton forced the Vikings batters off the field, it was the Thunder's turn to come up with an answer, and Joe Klein provided the response. The standout performer on the mound on Monday, the junior lined up in the designated hitter spot this time around and justified the label by blasting a double out to right center field. Jacob Snyder, who was waiting on second after being walked and stealing a base, ran home to get Wheaton on the board. The Vikings led 3-1 after the opening frame, but an early score gave Wheaton a chance of righting the ship. 

Unfortunately for the Thunder, the Viking attack did not let up. Five more runs across the next three innings seemingly put the game out of reach, and Wheaton could not find a way to stymie the BLC sluggers. A ground-rule double from Snyder in the bottom of the fourth inning allowed Kyle Wu to score and broke Wheaton's offensive drought, but even after this tally, the Thunder faced an 8-2 deficit after four innings. A two-RBI double from the Vikings in the top of the 5th extended Bethany Lutheran's lead to eight runs. But after allowing Matthias Haggerty to post an RBI double of his own and walking a Wheaton batter to start the bottom half of the frame, the Vikings decided to make a pitching change. Ironically, this proved to be the momentum swing that Wheaton was looking for. The Thunder proceeded to post five more runs in the fifth inning and quickly rescued their chances of ending the day with a W. Kyle Wu started the stretch with a two-RBI double shot down the right field line, then Harrison Stanton made the offensive play of the game for Wheaton by cracking a three-run homer over the right field wall. This prompted another change on the pitcher's mound for BLC, and their replacement option managed to stop the bleeding at 10-8. 

Despite holding a firm grasp on the momentum after the fifth inning, Wheaton never got the chance to complete their comeback. Bethany Lutheran added two more runs in the next frame to push their lead back up to four, and the Vikings' closer only allowed one more hit the rest of the way. If any doubt over the final score remained heading into the ninth inning, Bethany Lutheran quickly snuffed it out courtesy of a three-RBI double bomb into left center field to give the box score its final scoreline. The Thunder showed a healthy dose of resiliency in the middle portion of the contest to make things interesting, but their initial hole proved too deep to fully emerge from.
 
Five different pitchers saw the field for Wheaton on Tuesday, and they combined for nine strikeouts, 11 walks, and 15 hits allowed. Micah Johnson led the way with three K's, while Jacob Rans and Jared Kloth each earned two. Offensively, Harrison Stanton was once again at the forefront of the action, as the sophomore registered three RBIs and two hits, including his aforementioned home run. Joe Klein picked up a team-high three hits while also posting an RBI and a run. Kyle Wu went two's across the board in runs, hits, and RBIs, and he was joined by Matthias Haggerty and Ben Weaver in firing off a pair of hits. The junior Jacob Snyder, a last-minute replacement in the lineup, collected one hit, one run, and one RBI.  

After a two-day break and a team service project on Wednesday, the Thunder will return to the diamond on Friday morning to take on Northland College in the first of two games scheduled for the 11th.