Carol Stream, Ill. -- After beginning their weekend slate in Waukesha last night, the Wheaton and Carroll baseball teams played parts two and three of their CCIW series at Lee Pfund Stadium this afternoon. The visiting Pioneers emerged victorious in both games with the two contests being starkly different in nature. Carroll's weekend sweep of the Thunder improved its CCIW record to 6-4, while today's results drop Wheaton's mark to 1-9 in conference action and 7-18 overall.
The first of today's two meetings was a high-scoring free-for-all, with both squads combining for 35 runs on 36 hits. Wheaton fired off 20 hits compared to Carroll's 16 but committed two more errors than its Wisconsin visitor and left six more runners on base. Additionally, the Pioneers walked and hit nine Thunder batters, while the home side surrendered first base on 14 occasions.
Harrison Stanton, who went an excellent 6-6 at the plate in game one on Saturday, opened the scoring thanks to a triple shot followed by a throwing error, and Wheaton raced out to a 3-0 lead in the second frame when
Matt Nelson posted a RBI double and Stanton brought Nelson home himself soon after. Carroll then came up with three scores in the top of the third to tie the contest, and while Wheaton managed to nudge back in front at 5-3, the Pioneers registered six runs in the fifth and sixth innings that would ultimately prove decisive. Carroll limited Wheaton's offensive firepower in the middle of the contest and looked to be cruising to a series win until a six-run eighth inning comeback by the Thunder made things interesting at 15-12. But the Pios refused to surrender their lead and tallied a mammoth eight runs in the final frame to account for the noteworthy scoreline.
Stanton posted a game-high six hits, scored twice, and generated a pair of RBI to power the Thunder offense in game one today.
Noah Yi came up with three hits and joined Stanton on two runs scored.
Jacob Snyder,
Payton McClowry, and
Daniel Hillyer each contributed two hits, and the latter registered a team-leading three RBI.
Luke Hamm earned a hit, a run, and two RBI, while Nelson and
Joe Klein chipped in with one of each. Designated hitter
Mason Diel went for one hit, a RBI, and two scores.
Nate Barker (
pictured below) got the start on the mound in the first game on Saturday and tossed a contest-best six strikeouts while giving up just three hits from 21 batters faced. In total, 15 different throwers from both teams saw time on the field in the first contest of today's doubleheader, as pitching solutions to both sides' heavy hitting were hard to come by.
Conversely, the second game of today's twinbill was a comparatively low-scoring, sleepy affair, as neither side was able to recapture the batting magic of game one. Carroll picked up where it left off by posting four scores in the first inning, including a two-RBI home run, but offered very little offense after that point. All three of Wheaton's runs in the final game of the weekend came in the second frame.
Payton McClowry (
pictured left) singled into right field to bring
Kyle Wu across home plate, before a fielder's choice situation
allowed
Noah Yi to score the second run.
Harrison Stanton then added another RBI single to send McClowry to the pentagon, and it seemed as though game two might parallel the first game's high-scoring flow.
But the squads combined for just ten hits after the first two innings, and five scoreless frames followed until the Pioneers doubled their one-run advantage in the top of the eighth. Wheaton had a chance to come away from the series with something to celebrate, but the visitors put the defensive clamp down and gave up just one hit in the final two innings to close out a weekend sweep.
Carroll out-hit the Thunder by a margin of two in the second game this evening, although the Pioneers committed an error and Wheaton was faultless. There were considerably fewer walks and hit-by-pitch instances in game two, and the gap in runners left on base was much less significant, with Wheaton stranding seven players to Carroll's six.
Brendan Dyer threw for the first seven innings of the second game and sat down five Carroll batters, giving an assured performance after the Pioneers came out firing in the first inning.
Sean Smith offered another solid outing in relief, striking out three of the nine Carroll players he faced in the last two frames.
McClowry and Stanton were the only Thunder batsmen to post multiple hits in the second contest today, and each player also contributed a RBI. Wu and Yi both registered one run and one hit.
The Thunder baseball team will remain at home on Wednesday evening for the return leg of its CCIW series against the Illinois Wesleyan Titans. First pitch is scheduled for 6 PM at Pfund Stadium.
