Carol Stream, Ill. -- After suffering a setback in Elmhurst last night, the Wheaton baseball team returned to Lee Pfund Stadium this afternoon for a doubleheader against the Bluejays to decide their regular season series. Elmhurst looked to be headed for the series victory in the first game on Saturday, but a dramatic late rally by the Thunder allowed them to force a determining game three. Wheaton blew its local rival away in the second part of today's twinbill to earn a come-from-behind series win and improve to 3-11 in conference action. Additionally, the Thunder moved above today's opponent in the CCIW standings thanks to the pair of victories on Saturday.
The first half of today's opening contest flew by with little meaningful offensive play, and the two squads combined for just three hits through the first three innings. Elmhurst finally broke the deadlock in the top of the fourth with a RBI single and added another in the fifth frame to double their slender advantage. Wheaton fired off multiple hits in the early stages but could not manage to bring any players in to score, and the hosts stranded two runners on base in both the fifth and sixth innings. After a swift seventh frame, the Bluejays tallied their third RBI single to go up by three runs in the top of the eighth and started closing in on a series win over Wheaton.
But after going three-up, three-down in the penultimate batting series, the hosts finally came alive when they really needed to, scoring three runs in the bottom of the ninth to force an improbable extra inning.
Noah Yi led off with a double blast into right center to put himself in scoring position, and a fly out soon bumped him forward to third base. The Bluejays were one out away from securing the win, but Wheaton refused to go down easily, and a
Matt Nelson single brought Yi in to tally the Thunder's opening run.
Harrison Stanton then singled himself, and the pivotal moment arrived from the next batter,
Joe Klein (
pictured below). The senior stepped to the plate and ripped a double into left field to bring Nelson and Stanton home for the tying runs. While he did not get the chance to score the winning run himself, Klein's two-RBI double staved off what would have been a ninth-consecutive defeat for the hosts and sent the contest into extra innings.
Not in the mood to throw away a game that it had been leading for most of the duration, Elmhurst loaded the bases in the top of the tenth frame thanks to two walks and a hit-by-pitch. But with two outs on the board, Thunder reliever
John McCraith came up clutch, striking out the final Bluejays batter to keep the score tied at three apiece and give his team the opportunity to win it in the bottom half. Wheaton's batters gratefully accepted that opportunity, as
Kyle Wu posted another double, and a subsequent ground out advanced him to within one base of the decisive score. With Wheaton facing another high-pressure two-out situation, pinch hitter
Nathan Hedlund rose to the occasion and dropped a walk-off single between the first baseman and right fielder to bring Wu across home plate and seal a thrilling 4-3 win for the Thunder.
Even with the team struggling to score runs for most of the first game today, Wheaton out-hit their Chicagoland neighbors 12-8, and neither side committed any errors. Both teams left nine runners on base over the course of the ten innings, while the Thunder stole two bags and twice caught an Elmhurst runner stealing thanks to some intelligent defensive work. The home side hit and walked more batters in game one on Saturday, but the Thunder also posted six doubles compared to just one for their guests which ultimately helped make the difference.
Nate Barker was the starting pitcher for Wheaton today, and the senior southpaw racked up an eye-opening ten strikeouts in his 7.2 innings on the mound.
John McCraith pitched the final two innings and allowed zero hits while sitting down three Bluejays batters on the way to collecting his fourth win of the season.
Kyle Wu was automatic at the plate for the Thunder in game one, going 4-5 and firing off three doubles in addition to his scoring of the winning run.
Matt Nelson also had a standout showing, going 3-4 with one run and one RBI.
Joe Klein registered just one hit in the first fixture on Saturday, but he could not have picked a better time to do it, with his ninth-inning double leading to a critical pair of RBI.
Nathan Hedlund similarly came up with a vital hit and RBI, while
Harrison Stanton scored once and contributed a hit.
Noah Yi matched Stanton's hit and run tally, and
Jacob Snyder chipped in with one hit, as well.
Having waited a while to get back in the win column, Wheaton wasted no time in staying there. While another hard-fought, competitive contest may have been expected in this afternoon's series-decider, the Thunder made sure that they could enjoy their Saturday night by putting on a confident 10-0 run-rule display. The hosts were clinical on offense and locked in on defense, posting their double-digit scoring tally on just 12 hits and limiting their opponents to only three of their own. Neither team committed any errors again to pair nicely with a clean game one today, and while Wheaton left nine runners on base as they did in the first matchup, it did not come back to bite them, as the squad successfully managed to cash in on their scoring opportunities.
While the Thunder were given first base eight times in game two, Elmhurst did not draw a single struck batter or walk thanks to a splendid effort from pitcher
Brendan Dyer (
pictured right).
The senior grabbed his first win on the mound this season with a scintillating seven-inning shutout, striking out seven Bluejays and conceding only three hits from 23 batters faced. Just as they did in the first game, the Thunder held the baserunning advantage in game two, stealing three bags and not allowing Elmhurst to take any.
Joe Klein was a perfect 3-3 at the plate, sealing his standout weekend against the Bluejays by also scoring a game-high four runs.
Jacob Snyder made a big impact in game two today, firing off three hits, a contest-leading six RBI, and helping himself to one run.
Kyle Wu put in another solid performance, tallying a pair of hits, one score, and one RBI in addition to multiple sharp fielding plays at second base.
Harrison Stanton also showed off his defensive prowess at third base in the second game and came up with one hit and two runs on the offensive end.
Mason Diel scored, hit, and chipped in with two RBI, while
Rutledge Feltel came home for one run and
Nathan Hedlund and
Matt Nelson each contributed one hit.
A RBI double from Wu got the scoring started early in today's second game, and the Thunder cemented their advantage by scoring three more runs in the bottom of the third. Snyder brought Diel and Klein across the pentagon with a double of his own into right field, before a sacrifice fly from
Noah Yi allowed the senior first baseman to touch home plate. A single slap down the left field line from Diel in the following frame gave Wheaton two more runs, and Snyder rubbed salt in the wound with a two-RBI ground-rule double that scored Wu and Feltel.
By this point, the result and series victory were all but secure and it was simply a question of whether Elmhurst could stretch the game to nine innings. But thanks to Dyer's confident release and vigilant fielding by the Thunder, the Bluejays never developed a rhythm in their batting attempts and were not close to making it a nervy affair. Another two-RBI hit from Snyder in the bottom of the fifth gave Wheaton the ten-run margin it was looking for, but the home side still needed to prevent Elmhurst from scoring to clinch the early win. Back-to-back three-up, three-down innings made sure of that, and the Thunder got to celebrate a satisfying Saturday sweep.
Fresh off of the momentum generated by today's wins, Wheaton will head into the city on Tuesday afternoon to face North Park in the teams' second single-game meeting of the season. The Thunder then return to Pfund Stadium on Wednesday night to host Kalamazoo College in their final non-conference matchup of the year.
