Carol Stream, Ill. -- With no midweek games on the schedule the past several days, the Wheaton baseball team returned to play this evening for the first time since last Saturday's home doubleheader against Illinois Wesleyan. The Thunder were back at Lee Pfund Stadium on Friday night, welcoming North Park University for the first part of their three-game series this weekend. Following a low-scoring, defensive struggle, Wheaton eventually emerged with a 3-1 win to claim the early advantage in the series and draw closer to its Windy City opponent in the conference standings. The Thunder are now 6-8 in CCIW play, while the Vikings sit on a mark of 7-7 in league competition.

The two sides combined for 11 hits in Friday's matchup, with Wheaton posting seven to North Park's four. Both teams registered a pair of doubles, while the Thunder's fifth-inning home run was the game's only blast good for more than two bases. Tonight's meeting was a clean affair, as the Vikings committed only one error and the Thunder enjoyed their first error-free home game of the season. Both sides stole one base, and Wheaton left seven runners on while North Park stranded three. Friday's pitching output was largely sharp and accurate, as the teams tallied just two walks and one struck player between five total throwers, all of which came from the Vikings' unit.

Nate Burden (pictured right) earned the win on the mound tonight with another impressive eight-inning showing, sitting down seven Vikings batters and surrendering just four hits, one score, and no walks. The freshman now has four wins to his credit this year, matching JD Van Hook for the most among Wheaton's pitchers. Sean Smith also reached the number four this evening with his fourth save of the season, coming in for the ninth inning and tallying a strikeout to help the Thunder seal the victory. His four saves are tied for third on the program's single-season list and currently the second-most in the conference in 2025. With tonight's save, the senior has seven to his name in his collegiate career, putting him alone in second place in the Wheaton record books. Smith now only trails Wheaton's all-time saves leader, Nick Johnson (2014-18) and his 13 career saves.

Rutledge Feltel launched his team-leading sixth home run of the campaign on Friday and finished with two hits while being the only player to post multiple RBI. Matching his two hits this evening were Noah Yi and James Scott, with the former also scoring a run and stealing a base and the latter accounting for Wheaton's third RBI. Braden Engel contributed one hit and one run in tonight's victory.

North Park got a single from its second batter in the lineup, and he eventually made it to third base, but a third-out strikeout prevented him from opening the scoring. Two three-up, three-down innings followed, and Wheaton did not register its first hit of the contest until Yi singled up the middle in the fourth frame. After the Thunder blanked their visitors again in the top of the fifth, the deadlock was finally broken thanks to Feltel's blast over the left field wall. Scott (pictured below) followed this up with a double down the left field line, and it appeared    as though the home side was about to create clear separation on the scoreboard. But the Vikings drew two fly outs to end the inning and limit the damage at 1-0 in Wheaton's favor. The visitors then immediately responded with a run in the sixth inning from their own double down the left field line to tie the game. Yi ripped off another double in the bottom half and got all the way to third base but was unable to score the go-ahead run before the end of the inning.

With the score still knotted up at 1-1 heading into the last two frames, Wheaton cashed in on North Park's fruitless batting series and tallied a pair of runs to move ahead for good. The Vikings should have escaped the inning unscathed with two strikeouts, but the lone error of the night allowed Yi to get on base, and the senior was eventually brought home by another RBI hit from Feltel. Scott once again got a hit immediately thereafter, and his single allowed Engel to cross the pentagon and double the Thunder's advantage. A walk then loaded the bases and gave the hosts a chance to further pad their lead, but a line out to right field kept North Park within touching distance. Smith (pictured below) entered the game after Burden's eight innings of work and started the ninth frame with a strikeout to settle any potential nerves among the home faithful. The Vikings still had two outs to work with, but Wheaton successfully sealed the victory with no fuss thanks to a fly out and an impressive snag from third baseman Nathan Hedlund. 

After a hard-fought first installment, the two squads will meet again tomorrow at North Park to round out their series. Saturday's doubleheader in Chicago is scheduled for 1 PM & 4 PM. Read Full Article