Carol Stream, Ill. - Both the Thunder and the Firebirds of Carthage College walked away with a victory on Saturday as the two teams split a conference doubleheader at Lee Pfund Stadium. Wheaton rallied in the opener to claim a 2-1 victory, but the Firebirds led wire-to-wire in the rubber match of the three-game season series, claiming a 3-1 victory to improve to 14-7 overall and 3-4 in conference play while dropping Wheaton to 7-14 and 1-5 in the CCIW. Wheaton will step out of CCIW play on Monday afternoon when the Thunder host Benedictine University before continuing their conference slate with a Tuesday contest at Illinois Wesleyan University.

After taking the first game of the three-game series with a home run on the final swing of Friday's 5-4 victory, Carthage jumped in front early when Kody Krekling connected with a solo home run on just the second at-bat of the game. Threatening again in the top of the second, Wheaton's defense shut down a potential big inning when Luke Hamm erase a leadoff walk by throwing out an attempt steal of second base. After another walk, a perfect relay from Daniel Hillyer in the left-center field gap cut down the run trying to score from first to keep the inning scoreless.

Neither team would threaten again until Harrison Stanton (PICTURED RIGHT) led off the home seventh with a single up the middle before stealing second base and advancing to third on Mason Diel's single. Kyle Wu followed with a run-scoring single to tie the game at one and the Thunder loaded the bases two batters later when Hamm was hit by a pitch. Carthage would work itself out of the jam, however, with the game still tied at 1-1.

On the verge of a second-straight extra innings contest, Wheaton started the bottom of the ninth with a Joe Klein walk and Diel was hit by a pitch before both runners were moved up 90 feet on Wu's sacrifice bunt. Carthage was able to extend the game when Klein was cut down at the plate for the second out, but Hamm brought it to a swift conclusion, with a single up the middle to score pinch-runner Payton McClowry to give Wheaton the 2-1 victory.

Nate Barker earned the tough-luck no decision after spinning eight innings of one-run ball, allowing just four hits and striking out 10 batters. Caleb VanKerkhoff earned the win with a scoreless ninth inning of work. Harrison Stanton led the Thunder offense, tallying three of Wheaton's six game one hits and stealing a base.

Krekling would set the table again for the Firebirds to start game two, singling and coming around to score in the top of the first inning. This time, Carthage would find some insurance runs, plating two runs in the top of the fourth inning while the pitchers again carried the day for both sides. Wheaton would threaten in the sixth and seventh innings, ultimately coming up empty but stranding two runners on base in each inning. John McCraith pitched himself into and out of trouble in the top of the eighth, loading the bases on just one hit, but recovering to strand them loaded to keep the score at 3-1. 

Mason Diel led off the home ninth with a double before being replaced by McClowry, who would come around to score on Noah Yi's RBI groundout to put the Thunder on the board but that would be all Wheaton would muster in the 3-1 defeat. Brendan Dyer allowed three runs on three hits with five strikeouts in six innings of work while McCraith scattered three hits over three innings while striking out eight batters in relief. Diel had two of Wheaton's five hits in the nightcap while Stanton reached base three times again, drawing three walks.