Carol Stream, Ill. -- The Thunder baseball team ended a stretch of nine-straight home contests on Friday afternoon by hosting the North Park Vikings for both teams' first game of the CCIW schedule. Wheaton got off to a strong start and held a 5-0 advantage after the first four innings, but the Windy City visitors scored eight runs over the next four frames to steal a hard-fought 8-7 road win. Today's loss drops the Thunder's record to 6-10 overall, while North Park improves to 12-7 and 1-0 in conference play.
The Vikings got three runners on base in their first batting series this afternoon via three walks, but starting pitcher
Alex Bagley closed the door and prevented any runs from being scored with a strikeout to end the top half. Offensively, the Thunder generated just one hit in the first two innings, and it had the makings of a low-scoring meeting at Lee Pfund Stadium through the first few frames. But the hosts broke the stalemate in the bottom of the third when
Noah Yi singled through the right side and was eventually brought home thanks to a sacrifice fly.
After North Park missed another opportunity to bring their runner on third base in to score in the top of the fourth inning, Wheaton made them pay in the bottom half when another sac fly allowed
Joe Klein to touch home plate and
Matt Nelson's first double of the year brought Yi and
Mason Diel around the bases.
Daniel Hillyer then scored Nelson himself via a RBI single to make it 5-0 to the Thunder. But this surge seemed to shake the Vikings out of their offensive slumber, and NPU loaded the bases in the top of the fifth. Determined not to strand more runners in scoring positions, the visitors finally broke through with a well-timed three-RBI double shot into right center to cut Wheaton's lead. But the Thunder pushed their edge back up to three runs in the bottom half when
Harrison Stanton hit to get on base and eventually scored thanks to a
Kyle Wu single and a North Park fielding error.
Caleb VanKerkhoff came in to pitch for Wheaton in the sixth frame and subsequently sat down all three Vikings batters. The Thunder looked to be heading for a conference-opening win as
Jacob Snyder scored Hillyer with a single through the left side to make it 7-3 to the home side after six innings. But the guests from Chicago flipped the script in the last three frames and rattled off five runs to edge in front with what would prove to be the final scoreline. NPU posted three runs from two hits to draw within one score in the top of the seventh, but both sides ended the inning with a runner on third base that could have altered the score either way.
A RBI triple and a wild pitch enabled the Vikings to finally move ahead at 8-7, and while Wheaton limited their opponents to just those two scores in the top of the eighth, North Park conceded only one hit in the bottom portion to maintain their advantage heading into the decisive inning. Three-up, three-down series followed for both sides in the ninth frame, and the Vikings held on for a competitive comeback win.
Wheaton slipped to a narrow defeat this evening despite posting more hits and committing fewer errors than North Park across the nine innings. Wheaton also left one less runner on base than their guests, but the Vikings drew three more walks than the Thunder and enjoyed 3-1 advantages in the stolen base and batters hit by pitch categories.
Bagley tossed three strikeouts and surrendered just two hits from 17 batters faced in his four innings of work on Friday. VanKerkhoff went two innings on the mound and earned a game-high four strikeouts, while
Brendan Dyer also sat down a pair of Vikings batters in his two-inning cameo.
Kyle Wu had an efficient day at the plate, going 2-2 and generating a RBI. The senior also stole Wheaton's only base on Friday, taking his season tally up to a team-leading eight. Wu was joined on two hits by
Daniel Hillyer and
Harrison Stanton, with both players scoring one run and the former contributing one RBI.
Jacob Snyder posted two RBI and one hit today, and
Noah Yi had one hit and scored twice.
Matt Nelson went for one hit, one run, and a pair of RBI, while
Mason Diel and
Joe Klein each posted one run and one hit.
After today's contest, the Thunder will turn right around and face North Central in a doubleheader tomorrow afternoon in Naperville. The twin bill is scheduled to start at 12 PM.
