Tucson, Ariz. -- Fresh off of a 6-2 win over Waldorf yesterday, the Thunder baseball team returned to the field in Arizona this morning to continue its Spring Break schedule with the first of two matchups against Gustavus Adolphus College. Wheaton plated nine runs in the final four innings of Tuesday's high-scoring affair to secure an 11-9 win and hand the Golden Gusties their first defeat of 2024. The Thunder's record is now 2-5 on the year as the team heads into a two-day break from competition.
Gustavus Adolphus posted one more hit than Wheaton today despite the defeat, but it left ten runners stranded on base, and this figure was key to the Thunder's narrow victory. Wheaton registered three doubles and a triple, while impressively limiting the Golden Gusties to just two hits further than first base. The Thunder earned 11 RBI to GAC's eight, while both squads stole one base, walked four batters, and hit a batter on the pitch five times.
John McCraith earned his first win of the season on the mound by pitching four innings in the middle of today's contest. The senior struck out a game-high four opposition batters and allowed only two runs from 19 batters faced, despite the bases being loaded when he took the field.
Sean Smith followed up yesterday's game-sealing showing with a ninth-inning save on Tuesday, picking up one strikeout in the process.
Brendan Dyer and
Nathan Hedlund also pitched for Wheaton this morning, with both throwers sitting down a pair of Golden Gusties batters.
Joe Klein steered the Thunder offense today, tallying a game-best three hits, scoring one run, and earning a RBI.
Chris Lynam and
Jacob Snyder each had another solid performance at the plate, with both players contributing two hits, two RBI, and one run.
Kyle Wu and
Matt Nelson each crossed home plate twice and generated one RBI, with the former also contributing a hit.
Luke Hamm produced a pair of RBI and scored one time himself, while Hedlund and
Tim Whitfield each posted a hit and a run.
The Minnesota side managed to load the bases in its first batting series this morning, but Wheaton fielded a clean play and secured the third out before any runner could reach home. Wu then opened the game's scoring off of an effective sacrifice bunt from Hamm following a Hedlund single shot to put the senior in scoring position. A drama-free third inning gave way to five runs in the fourth, with Gustavus Adolphus scoring the latter four. Wheaton's early lead was doubled in the top half when Wu's single to the pitcher's mound brought
Mason Diel in to score, but the Thunder left two runners on base and could not manage to further stretch their lead before the Gusties' response. Two walked batters and two singles gave GAC its first score and loaded the bases in the bottom of the fourth, and three more runs soon followed to flip the scoreline on its head. But McCraith appeared from the bullpen to minimize the damage and sat down the final Gustavus batter to stop the surge at four runs.
Wheaton answered back with the day's highest-scoring frame in the sixth inning, however, to claim what would prove to be a decisive lead. A single from Klein and two walks loaded the bases before consecutive hit-by-pitch instances tied the game at four runs apiece. Another walk then followed and a ground-out RBI by Whitfield made it six for Wheaton, before Snyder capped the five-run swing with a RBI single to bring Nelson across home plate. Gustavus Adolphus pulled a pair of runs back in the bottom of the sixth to keep the Thunder within touching distance and maintain the see-saw nature of the contest. A scoreless inning followed once again to set up the eighth frame, which would ultimately account for Tuesday's final score.
Lynam came up with a well-timed RBI double into left field in the top of the penultimate inning to make it 8-6 for the Thunder, and his scoring hit was immediately piggy-backed on by Whitfield and Snyder, who registered a RBI double and triple, respectively, to bring the preceding batters in for scores. Klein then made it four hits into left field that led to runs for Wheaton in the same frame with his single that allowed Snyder to tab the Thunder's final run of the contest and stretch the lead up to five at 11-6. Not content to go down quietly, GAC fired back with a three-run homer in the bottom half to force its way back into proceedings at 11-9. But Smith entered the game to pitch for Wheaton in the final frame and caused a three-up, three-down series to clinch a second-consecutive win for the Thunder.
Wheaton will step away from the diamond tomorrow to take part in a service project day with a local homeless shelter, and the Thunder's varsity squad is also off on Thursday as two JV games are set to take place. Wheaton will return to action on Friday morning to face Sul Ross State University in a doubleheader before meeting today's opponents again on Saturday in the final contest of Spring Break.
