Carol Stream, Ill. – The Wheaton baseball team hosted Carthage on Friday night in a CCIW matchup The Firebirds rallied with nine runs in the seventh and eighth innings to earn a 10-5 victory against the Thunder. Wheaton is scheduled to hosts University of Chicago tomorrow in a non-conference doubleheader at 1:00 p.m.
 
Carthage earned the 10-5 win tonight as Firebirds scored 10 runs, on 11 hits, with no errors and Wheaton tallied five runs, on seven hits, with three errors. Thunder starting pitcher Nate Parker worked 6-2/3 innings as he allowed five runs, including two earned runs, on seven hits, with eight strikeouts and no walks allowed. John McCraith pitched 2/3 of an inning of relief as he allowed four runs, with one earned run, on three hits, with one strikeout and two walks. Simeon Downing pitched 1-1/3 innings of relief, with no hits allowed, no runs allowed and one strikeout.
 
Harrison Stanton was 2-for-4, with a triple as he scored one run and drove in one run. Larken Lancaster and Jacob Snyder each hit a double. Kyle Wu, Ben Weaver and Mason Diel added singles for the Thunder.

The Thunder took an early lead with three runs in the bottom of the second inning to gain a 3-0 advantage. Diel hit a leadoff single, followed by a double for Lancaster. They both scored on a double by Snyder and then Snyder scored a few plays later. Carthage reached the scoreboard with a run in the top of the fifth to cut Wheaton's lead to 3-1.
 
The Firebirds scored four runs in the top of the seventh inning and added four more in top of the eighth for a 10-1 lead. Stanton hit s RBI triple in the bottom of the eighth inning and he sored on RBI groundout by Diel to trim the guests' lead to 10-5.