Bloomington, Ill. -- The Wheaton baseball team traveled south on Friday for its second conference road game this week, heading to Illinois Wesleyan University for the first leg of their weekend series. The Titans, currently second in the CCIW standings, overturned an early deficit against the Thunder this afternoon before withstanding their guests' ninth-inning rally to snatch a dramatic 14-13 win in the tenth frame. Today's result marked IWU's third-consecutive walk-off victory over Wheaton in Bloomington and gave the Titans the advantage in the series ahead of Saturday's doubleheader. The two sides are scheduled to face off again at 1 PM and 4 PM tomorrow at Lee Pfund Stadium.
The Thunder started this afternoon's contest on the front foot, immediately loading the bases thanks to two walks and a
Jack Gill single. Consecutive ground-out RBIs then brought
Noah Yi and Gill across home plate to give the visitors an early 2-0 advantage. The hosts also put a runner on third base in their first batting series but could not bring him in to score, and Wheaton capitalized on this defensive stop, tallying three more runs in the top of the second to stretch its lead to 5-0. Another pair of walks allowed
Payton McClowry to advance to second base before an IWU throwing error saw the senior score, and
James Scott subsequently ripped a two-RBI single into left field to plate two more runs. But Illinois Wesleyan tied the game back up at 5-5 in one swoop via a sacrifice fly, a three-RBI double, and a single into center field in the bottom half.
The Thunder nearly responded with another scoring inning, putting runners on first and third in the top of the third frame. But the home side prevented them from bringing any runs in and completed the early comeback with another run to go up 6-5. Another offensive surge for the Titans in the following frame saw them extend their edge to 10-5 thanks to a trifecta of RBI singles. The hosts' scoring frenzy would end after sophomore pitcher
Josh Ortiz (pictured below) entered the game, however, with Wheaton limiting the Titans to just two runs over the next 4.1 innings. Following one more score by Illinois Wesleyan in the bottom of the sixth frame, Wheaton got back into the contest via a well-timed home run from
Nathan Hedlund that brought three runs in and halved the deficit to 11-8. A solo homer for IWU in the following series pushed the score to 12-8 in the hosts' favor heading into the eighth.
Both teams saw a pair of runners stranded in a scoreless eighth inning, before Wheaton rallied to tie the game at 12-12 in the top of the ninth. Illinois Wesleyan made a pitching change, and even with Feltel's lead-off single, two strikeouts early in the order suggested that the Titans would successfully close out the win. But McClowry managed a hit of his own to advance pinch runner
Michael Chang, and the next three Thunder batters were all struck by a pitch, bringing Wheaton back within two runs. Gill then welcomed the newest Titans thrower to the game with a clutch two-RBI single to level the score at 12-12 and cap a stunning comeback for the visitors.
The second baseman then came up with a huge double play in the bottom of the ninth to send the game to an extra inning. Wheaton got the run it was looking for in the top of the tenth when
Braden Engel entered the contest and eventually rounded the bases thanks to a
Will Clegg single and a sacrifice fly by McClowry. But this would prove insufficient to steal an unlikely road win, as Illinois Wesleyan plated two runs in its following batting series from an RBI double and single to secure another thrilling win over the Thunder in Bloomington.
Today's evenly-matched game was reflected in the box score stats, as both teams registered 16 hits, three doubles, one home run, six walks, and nine strikeouts. The home side saw 11 baserunners stranded, while the visitors left ten runners on. Illinois Wesleyan had the game's only two stolen bases, but Wheaton benefited from four hit-by-pitch situations. The only major point of difference between the two sides on Friday came in the error column, with the Thunder committing five to the Titans' one.
Gill led all players in hits and runs today, tallying four and three, respectively, while also earning two RBI. Scott registered a pair of hits and RBI while scoring once himself, and Clegg contributed three hits. Hedlund posted a game-high four RBI thanks to his seventh-inning home run, and McClowry tallied two hits, two runs, and an RBI.
Sean Dmytrowicz and Yi each went for one hit and one RBI, as the former scored twice and the latter reached home plate one time. Feltel posted one hit and one RBI on Friday.
Starting pitcher
Nate Burden tallied three strikeouts in his 3.2 innings on the mound, before Ortiz sat down five Titans hitters and gave up just five hits and two runs from 21 batters faced.
JD Van Hook pitched the ninth inning this evening, and his brief cameo helped the Thunder keep IWU scoreless and extend the game into an extra frame.
Wheaton will look to quickly regroup after another heartbreaking result in Bloomington as it welcomes today's opponent to Lee Pfund Stadium for a twinbill on Saturday.
