Greenville, Ill. -- Taking to the road for its second weekend trip of the new season, the Thunder baseball team traveled south to the campus of Greenville University on Friday to face the hosting Panthers in the first two of a three-game set. The two teams were originally scheduled to play only the first game of the series this afternoon, but Saturday's doubleheader was reduced to a single contest due to a more favorable weather forecast on Friday. Greenville withstood a Wheaton comeback in the first matchup today to claim a 10-8 victory, but the Thunder earned a dominant 18-7 result in the second game to pick up their first win of 2025. The two sides will meet again at noon on Saturday for the decisive third game of the series.
The hosts registered 16 hits and no errors in game one this afternoon, while Wheaton tallied 14 hits and committed two errors. The Thunder wasted no time in opening the scoring, as
Daniel Hillyer doubled to center field in the very first at-bat of the day and
Tim Whitfield followed this up with a home run out to left. But Greenville reached home plate in each of the first four innings to establish a seemingly comfortable 6-2 lead. Wheaton left two runners on base in the top of the second inning, but the Panthers were otherwise able to limit their visitors' bats following Whitfield's homer. However, the Thunder did not back down easily and notched another pair of runs in the fifth frame via a two-RBI double by
Rutledge Feltel that scored Hillyer and
Noah Yi. Hillyer
(pictured right) subsequently brought Yi across the pentagon again in the sixth inning to draw Wheaton back within a single score at 6-5. The guests canceled out Greenville's run in the bottom half with a solo blast from Feltel
in the next offensive series to make the score 7-6 in the home side's favor heading into the last two frames. After Yi was struck by a pitch from Greenville's second reliever, Hillyer capped his excellent showing with a two-run bomb over the right field wall to complete the comeback and put Wheaton ahead at 8-7. But a bases-loaded walk and a two-RBI single in the bottom of the eighth restored Greenville's lead, and the Panthers survived two base hits from the Thunder in the top of the ninth to hang on for a nervy 10-8 win.
Hillyer was the main man for Wheaton in game one on Friday, as the senior went 4-5 at the plate with two extra-base hits, three RBI, and three runs scored. Fellow senior Feltel was also key in the Thunder's offensive rotation, going for three hits, three RBI, and scoring himself one time. Yi registered two hits and three runs to provide a spark, and he was joined on a pair of hits by
Nathan Hedlund. Whitfield produced one run and two RBI from his first inning homer, while
Braden Engel picked up one hit and contributed the game's only stolen base.
Jared Kloth started the weekend on the mound for Wheaton and tossed four strikeouts in his four innings of work.
Josh Ortiz came in to replace him and sat down three Panthers batters over the next three innings, before
JD Van Hook pitched the final two at-bats of the contest.
Game two of this evening's doubleheader began in the opposite fashion, with Greenville being the team to score in their first batting series. After the Thunder saw two runners stranded in the first inning, the Panthers scored twice off of three-consecutive hits to begin the contest and added a third run shortly after to put themselves in position for a daily sweep. Wheaton seemed poised for more frustration after the second frame, leaving two more runners on base and allowing a sacrifice fly to extend its host's lead to four runs. But the Thunder reversed their disappointment with an incredible 14-run inning in the top of the third to blow away their SLIAC opponents and secure a first victory of the new campaign.
Feltel
(pictured below) got the fun started with a two-RBI shot into right center to score
James Scott and
Noah Yi. The Florida native was then brought home by
Chris Lynam, and the scoring chain continued when
Joshua Liu drove in Lynam and Jack
Gill to cap the rapid turnaround by putting Wheaton up 5-4 on the scoreboard. Following the subsequent pitching change,
Donovan Williams slapped off a single through the left side to allow Liu to score, and the Thunder grabbed another run from a Hillyer single that drove
Caleb Kelley across home plate. Scott was the next Wheaton batter to earn some RBI when the freshman completed Williams' and Hillyer's trip around the bases to extend the guests' advantage to 9-4. Gill then registered his second single of the inning to bring Yi across once again, and a balk and a two-RBI triple from Liu ballooned the Thunder's lead up to nine runs. Kelley closed out the stunning scoring sequence by bringing Liu to home plate via a RBI single and making it 14-4 in Wheaton's favor.
Greenville finally got a chance to respond and picked up three runs in the bottom half to trim the deficit down to 14-7 heading into the fourth frame. But the Panthers never seriously threatened to overturn the sizable gap on the scoreboard, and Wheaton allowed just two more hits across the last four innings to close out an impressive run-rule victory. Feltel registered another RBI single in the top of the sixth to score Yi and was brought home again by Lynam to set the score at 16-7. The Thunder needed just one more run in the seventh frame to bring the contest to a premature end, and this score was provided by
Payton McClowry, as the senior was driven in by
Michael Chang in a pinch hitter role. Scott then scored Chang to wrap up the rout with Wheaton's 18th run of an eventful second game.
Unsurprisingly, the Thunder finished game two with considerably more hits than their opponents at a 21-9 split. Greenville also committed two errors while Wheaton enjoyed a flawless outing. Baserunning was a notable part of Wheaton's victory, as the visitors stole eight bags and gave up just one on the defensive end. Despite 30 total hits and 25 runs being scored in today's second game, there were no home runs logged by either side.
Feltel completed his impressive offensive day on Friday with a 3-4 showing at the plate and three RBI while crossing home plate on two occasions. He was matched on three hits by the freshman pair of Scott and Gill, with the former earning three RBI and two runs and the latter posting two runs with one batted in. Liu generated a game-high four RBI from his pair of hits and also scored twice, while fellow sophomore Lynam went 2-2-2 across the board in these three categories. Yi was 2-3 in the batter's box this evening and led all players with three runs scored and three stolen bases. Williams was one of five Thunder sluggers to contribute exactly one hit and one run in the win and picked up two stolen bases for good measure.
Alex Bagley earned his first win of the year on the mound by throwing for the first three innings of tonight's game. Sophomore reliever
David Levengood was excellent in his four frames of work, not allowing any runs or walks and conceding just two hits from 14 batters faced while tallying one strikeout.
Wheaton will look to keep its strong hitting form going in the third and final game of this weekend's series on Saturday as it looks for a decisive road win over the Panthers.
