Carol Stream, Ill. -- Saturday was Senior Day for the Wheaton baseball team, and the Thunder played host to Augustana in a pair of important matchups that are certain to play a role in determining seeds for the upcoming conference tournament. The home side rode a big closing stretch to an 8-5 win in the first game, but the visitors from Rock Island spoiled the party by taking game two, 9-2. After today's split, Wheaton's record sits at 17-18 overall and 10-7 in conference play. Augustana is currently one game ahead of Wheaton in the CCIW standings, but the Thunder have a chance to enter a three-way tie with the Vikings and Millikin on Monday when Wheaton hosts North Park in their regular season finale.
Wheaton wasted no time in opening the scoring on Saturday, as the hosts rattled off four consecutive singles, the last of which was an RBI by
Matthias Haggerty to bring
Ben Weaver across home plate. Augustana stopped the Thunder from extending their lead any further, however, and came close to scoring themselves by putting two runners on base in the top of the second. But Wheaton's fielders prevented the tying run, and the Thunder maintained their narrow advantage. After blanking the Thunder batters in the bottom half, Augustana scored their first run in the third following a fielder's choice-error combination. But Wheaton responded immediately through a double from Weaver that eventually resulted in the go-ahead score when the Augustana pitcher balked. Only one hit followed for either team in the next two innings, and game one looked to be a low-scoring affair as the teams entered the sixth frame. But after
Bjorn Bostrom, one of Wheaton's recognized seniors on the day, stranded two Augie base runners in the top half, the Thunder blew the game wide open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth. With two outs already on the scoreboard,
Joe Klein fended off the early exit with a single through the right side. Back to back doubles from Haggerty and
Kyle Wu then produced two runs, before
Jacob Snyder also contributed one to bring Wu home.
Tyler Weiner then capped the scoring run for the Thunder by knocking a single down the right field line to allow Snyder to cross the plate. The Vikings' problems only grew in the seventh frame, as Wheaton piled on two more runs off of a sacrifice fly and an Augie throwing error to push the lead to 8-1. A three-RBI triple restored Augustana's interest in the contest in the following inning, and the visitors added a final tally in the ninth, but Wheaton's six-run output in the previous sequences proved too large of a hurdle to overcome, and the Thunder sailed to a key conference win.
Brendan Dyer started game one on the mound for the Thunder today, and he registered one strikeout and conceded only one hit through the first two innings.
Alex Vlaisavich checked in to replace him, and the senior picked up his second win of the year while tallying a team-high four strikeouts and allowing only one hit and one run. Fellow senior pitchers Bostrom and
David Solfelt each saw two innings of action on the mound, and they combined for six strikeouts in seeing out the victory.
Matthias Haggerty,
Ben Weaver, and
Joe Klein each posted two hits for Wheaton in the first game. Haggerty earned an RBI and one run, while Weaver scored three times.
Kyle Wu contributed two RBIs off of one hit and crossed home plate once himself.
Jacob Snyder went ones across the board, and
Tyler Weiner and
Graham Core joined him on one hit, while the former registered an RBI and the latter scored a run. Wheaton posted 11 hits to Augustana's ten, and the hosts only committed one error while the visitors picked up two. Sharp fielding made as much of a difference for the hosts in their game one win as hitting did, with Wheaton leaving 12 Viking runners on base through nine innings in a locked down performance.
The second act of today's doubleheader got off to a defensive start, as the two sides combined for just four hits and zero runs through the first three innings. The deadlock was finally broken in the bottom of the fourth when a single from
Tyler Weiner followed one from
Matt Nelson and
Mason Diel scored Wheaton's opening run. But this sequence was as good as it got offensively for the Thunder in game two, as Augustana allowed just four more hits and one more run from their hosts in the remaining five frames. Clinical pitching and mistake-free fielding prevented Wheaton from generating any momentum, and the late-game offensive surge that propelled the Thunder to victory in the first matchup never arrived at the second time of asking. Consecutive singles by the Vikings in the top of the fifth inning put a runner in scoring position, before a hit-by-pitch situation and back-to-back walks allowed Augustana to steal a 2-1 lead. The visitors never threatened to extend their advantage in the following three innings, as
Nate Barker stifled the Augustana batters on the mound. But a remarkable seven-run explosion from the Vikings in the final frame put the result beyond any doubt as the Thunder failed to keep their opponents within touching distance. An RBI single from
Ben Weaver in the final series brought
Zach Ledbetter across the pentagon, and two runners in scoring position offered the hosts a glimmer of hope, but Augustana managed to put the game to bed with little fuss and avoided the sweep which would have seen them fall below their hosts in the conference standings.
Augustana out-hit Wheaton 11-7 in this evening's contest, and committed zero errors in a smooth defensive showing.
Matt Nelson went two-for-four at the plate for Wheaton in game two, while
Ben Weaver registered one hit and one RBI.
Tyler Weiner posted the same stat line, and
Zach Ledbetter earned one hit and one run.
Harrison Stanton and
Kyle Wu each picked up a hit, and
Mason Diel scored a run.
Six different pitchers saw playing time for the Thunder in the second game, with
Joe Klein starting on the mound. The junior threw three strikeouts and allowed no runs through the first three innings.
Nate Barker was tremendous in his three inning cameo, tossing a team-best four strikeouts and conceding only one hit from 12 batters faced.
While the Thunder did not manage to earn a Senior Day sweep, the team still has a chance to end their home slate on a winning note. Wheaton is set to host North Park on Monday at 3:00 PM at Lee Pfund Stadium after Friday's conference matchup was rescheduled due to inclement weather.
