Carol Stream, Ill. -- After beginning this year's edition of its annual round robin invitational with a game against Saint Mary's University on Friday, the Thunder baseball team took the field at Lee Pfund Stadium for a third-consecutive day to close out the four-team event with two games this evening. Wheaton played host to Calvin University in its first contest on Saturday and faced Marian University immediately afterwards in a non-conference twinbill. The Thunder defeated the Knights, 7-4, this afternoon before grabbing a second win on the day at a similar 7-5 scoreline against Marian. These victories were Wheaton's fifth and sixth of the season to date and produced the first 2-0 single-day record for the Thunder in 2025.
Despite scoring three fewer runs, Calvin posted 11 hits to Wheaton's eight in game one and limited the home side to only one extra-base hit while tallying three of its own. Both squads committed one error in the field and stole one base in the competitive contest.
Both teams found success in their opening batting series, as Calvin scored two runs in the top of the first only to fall behind, 3-2, after Wheaton's first offensive rotation. Only two total runs crossed home plate in the next six innings, and these scores stretched the Thunder's lead to 5-2, before another brace in the bottom of the eighth took the game away from the visitors. The Knights brought in a pair of runs in the ninth inning to trim the deficit, but their rally came up short and Wheaton successfully saw out its first home win of the year.
Freshman outfielder
Braden Engel (pictured right) entered the game in the fifth inning to play in centerfield and finished 2-2 at the plate with two runs scored and Wheaton's only stolen bag in an impressive substitute
appearance. He was matched on two hits by fellow underclassmen
Chris Lynam and
Jack Gill, with the former player contributing two RBI and the latter, one. The senior duo of
Noah Yi and
Daniel Hillyer each registered one hit and one run with Yi also earning a RBI.
Rutledge Feltel played a role in confirming his team's win, as well, scoring once and driving in one score.
Jared Kloth went six innings on the mound for Wheaton in today's first game and earned the win by sitting down four Calvin batters and conceding just two runs. Rookie reliever
Billy Kessler had an excellent two-inning cameo, striking out a Knights batter and not giving up any hits or runs from the eight opposing players he faced.
Wheaton's second game on Saturday was a fast-moving defensive struggle for the first four innings. But the hosts blew the game open with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to build an unassailable lead. Marian finally found some offensive joy and outscored the Thunder 5-2 in the last three frames, but a risky gamble by the Sabres in the top of the eighth with the tying run at third base backfired, and Wheaton added two more scores in the bottom half to pull clear once more. The Wisconsin side got one last opportunity to tie or take the lead in the ninth inning and managed to get the go-ahead run up to bat, but there were already two outs on the board by this point, and the Thunder got the final out they needed to cap off a perfect day of results.
Wheaton finished tonight's second game on ten hits compared to seven for Marian, with half of the hosts' hits coming in a decisive fifth-inning flurry. Both sides fired off a pair of doubles, but the Thunder also tallied two triples and the same number of stolen bags to help create their scoring advantage.
Nate Burden had another noteworthy appearance on the mound tonight, collecting his third win of the campaign by allowing only one run in his seven innings of work and striking out three Sabres batters in the process.
JD Van Hook earned the save on Saturday, closing out the last 1.2 innings of the contest by giving up just one hit from the seven batters he faced and retiring two Marian players.
McClowry
(pictured below) provided a key offensive spark for the Thunder in their second victory with two hits, including one of the game's only two triples, two RBI, one run, and a stolen base. Wheaton's ten hits were
spread around the team, with Gill the only other player to post multiple hits in game two. The freshman scored one time and batted one run in, while
Donovan Williams matched McClowry on two RBI and a stolen base while also tallying a run and a hit. Engel and Yi each scored once, drove in one run, and came up with one hit. Feltel,
Nathan Hedlund, and
Ryan Cartwright accounted for the rest of Wheaton's hits in game two this evening.
After a busy home-opening weekend, the Thunder will head back out on the road for a pair of games in Wisconsin next week. Wheaton travels to Carroll University on Tuesday evening for its first CCIW fixture of the season and will also play at Carthage College on Friday afternoon. The Thunder and the Firebirds will then face each other at Lee Pfund Stadium next Saturday in the second of their two regular season meetings.
