Birmingham, Ala. – The Wheaton baseball team returned to action on Saturday with the final two games in its opening-weekend trip to Birmingham. The host Panthers of Birmingham Southern, ranked 12^th in the most recent D3baseball.com Top-25 poll, defeated Wheaton 8-1. La Grange College defeated Wheaton 4-1 in the second game of the day for the Thunder.

In Saturday's opener, Birmingham Southern topped the Thunder, 8-1. The Panthers scored eight runs, on five hits, with zero errors and Wheaton had one run, on six hits, with two errors.

Thunder starting pitcher Brendan Dyer (0-1) took the loss in two innings. Dyer allowed two runs, on one hit, with five walks and one strikeout. John McCraith pitched three innings of relief, allowing three runs, including two earned runs, on two hits, with five strikeouts, and three walks. Micah Johnson tossed 1-2/3 innings, as he allowed three runs, on two hits, with four walks, and one strikeout. Jack Lindsay faced one batter, earning a strikeout. Josh Ortiz pitched the final inning for Wheaton, allowing zero runs, on one hit.

Against BSC, Kyle Wu was 2-for-5 at the plate for the Thunder, hitting a double. Daniel Hillyer was 1-for-2 with a double and a RBI.

The Panthers scored twice in the bottom of the first inning to take an early 2-0 lead. Wheaton scored a run in the top of the fifth inning on a sacrifice fly by Hillyer that drove in catcher Luke Hamm. BSC scored three times in the bottom of the fifth inning to extend the hosts' lead to 5-1. The Panthers added two more runs in the sixth inning and one in the seventh.

Wheaton lost to LaGrange College 4-1 in the final game of the trip for the Thunder. LaGrange scored four runs, on six hits, with zero errors and Wheaton tallied one run, on four hits, with three errors.

Starting pitcher Alex Bagley worked four innings on the mound in the loss (0-1). He allowed four runs, including two earned runs, on six hits, with three strikeouts, and one walk. Rutledge Feltel tossed 2/3 of an inning in relief. He held the Panthers scoreless and hitless, allowing two walks. Nathan Hedlund pitched 2-1/3 innings of scoreless relief. Hedlund allowed zero hits, with one strikeout and three walks. Sean Smith pitched one inning, with no runs allowed, on zero hits, no walks allowed and one strikeout

Jacob Snyder, Mason Diel, Joe Klein, and Noah Yi each hit a single to account for Wheaton's four hits in the game. Yi and Matt Nelson each had a stolen base.

LaGrange took an early 2-0 lead with a pair of runs in the bottom of the first inning. Wheaton scored a run in the top of the second to cut the Panthers' lead to 2-1. Freshman Chris Lynam drew a one-out walk and he advanced to third base on a single to right centerfield by Yi. A wild pitch in the at bat that followed, with Snyder at the plate, allowed Lynam to score the Thunder run and Yi advanced to third base. LaGrange added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth. The game ended in the ninth with LaGrange earning a 4-1 victory.

Wheaton returns to action next Saturday when it starts its Spring Break trip to Tucson, Arizona with a pair of games. Wheaton faces Schreiner at 9:30 a.m. (MST) next Saturday to open the trip. Wheaton's second game next Saturday is a 1:00 p.m. first pitch against St. Olaf.