Greenville, Ill. – The Wheaton baseball team concluded its three-game series at Greenville University on Saturday with one game. Wheaton's ninth-inning rally fell just short as the Panthers escaped with a 4-3 victory to take the series two games to one.

Greenville scored four runs, on 10 hits, with two errors and Wheaton tallied three runs, on 10 hits, with two errors. Freshman starting pitcher Nate Burden had another strong outing in four innings of work. Burden allowed three runs, with one earned run, scattering six hits, with six strikeouts and one walk allowed. JD Van Hook pitched four innings of solid relief as he allowed one run on four hits with three strikeouts and one walk.

Senior second baseman Noah Yi was 3-for-4 at the plate, and he drew a walk. Yi hit a double and added stole three bases for the Thunder. Senior first baseman Rutledge Feltel was 2-for-3 and was hit by pitches on two occasions. The senior hit a double and drove in one run. Third baseman Nathan Hedlund was 2-for-5 with a double.  

The Thunder broke a scoreless tie with one run in the top of the fourth inning. Chris Lynam led off the top of the fourth with a single to right centerfield and he advanced to second base on a single to leftfield by catcher Luke Hamm. During Yi's at bat in the fourth inning, Lynam scored on a wild pitch that saw Hamm advance to third base. The Panthers responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Wheaton had two errors in the inning with just one earned run against Burden.

Wheaton trimmed the Panthers' lead to 3-2 with a run in the top of the sixth inning. The Thunder loaded the bases and Feltel was hit by a pitch that brought Donovan Williams home to cut the hosts' lead to 3-2. Williams reached earlier in the inning with a single to leftfield.

Greenville added a key insurance run on a RBI-single in the bottom of the seventh inning. Wheaton put a rally together in the top of the ninth inning. Chris Lynam led off the ninth by reaching base on a Greenville error. Payton McClowry pinch ran for Lynam, and he advanced to second base on a single to leftfield by Hedlund. A Thunder sacrifice bunt put runners at second and third with one out. Donovan Williams' ground out to shortstop advanced Hedlund to third base and scored McClowry to cut the Greenville lead to 4-3 with two outs. Yi drew a walk on the next at bat and he stole second base during Joshua Liu's at bat. Liu was then hit by a pitch to load the bases. However, Greenville pitcher Jacob Hammer earned the third out of the inning with a strikeout to end the game.

Wheaton is off until next Saturday when the Thunder starts its Spring Break trip to Fort Pierce, Florida with a doubleheader against Kenyon.