Chicago, Ill. - The Thunder baseball team split a doubleheader on Saturday afternoon at North Park University but did enough to earn the series victory over the Vikings via Friday night's win in the opener. Wheaton won the lidlifter on Saturday, 3-2, behind a stellar pitching performance from
Jared Kloth, before the Vikings salvaged the finale with an 11-2 victory that kept them a game ahead of Wheaton for the fourth spot in the CCIW standings. Wheaton moves to 14-21 overall and 7-9 in CCIW play, while the Vikings now stand at 8-8 in the CCIW and 12-21 overall.
Wheaton stranded a pair of runners on base to start the day but struck quickly in the second inning after
Braden Engel reached on an error. Three batters later,
Daniel Hillyer rapped a single to right-center to plate Engel with the game's first run.
Jared Kloth tip-toed out of trouble in the bottom half of the second inning, but the Vikings were able to equalize in the bottom of the fourth inning. Kloth prevented further damage from the hosts with a crucial double play ball that ended the Vikings' rally with the score still tied 1-1.
Consecutive doubles to lead off the fifth inning by Hillyer
(pictured right) and
Noah Yi put the Thunder back in the driver's seat as both pitchers settled in to control the action over the following innings. North Park manufactured a run to pull even again in the bottom of the seventh inning but Wheaton again had a quick answer. Two singles and a hit by pitch loaded the bases for pinch-hitter
Payton McClowry, who grounded the ball to second base but used his speed to beat out the potential double play ball, allowing pinch-runner
Donovan Williams to cross with the go-ahead run. Kloth was able to hold the Vikings without a threat over the last two frames to finish what he started and secure the 3-2 victory.
Kloth threw 119 pitches in the complete game effort, allowing two earned runs on seven hits while walking three and striking out four Viking hitters. The performance improves his record on the season to 4-6. Hillyer tallied two of Wheaton's five hits on the game.
In the nightcap, Wheaton again jumped out to a quick start, scoring two early runs on a two-run, two-out triple by
Jack Gill in the top of the first inning. North Park pulled even in the home half with a pair of runs and then took control of the game with six unearned runs, all with two outs in the bottom of the second inning. The Vikings would add an insurance run in the fifth, seventh, and eighth frames to take the final game of the series by a score of 11-2 behind a 17-hit effort.
Gill tallied three hits for the Thunder, including the two-run triple to pace the offense with McClowry turning in a two-hit performance.
Wheaton will kick off a busy final week of the regular season with its final non-conference matchup of the season on Tuesday night when the Thunder travel to Kalamazoo for a 4 pm local start. Wheaton will wrap up its season series with Elmhurst on Wednesday night with a 6 pm road tilt before the Thunder return home for Senior Night on Friday, May 2 against Millikin at 6 pm. Wheaton will then travel to Decatur for a Saturday doubleheader beginning at 1 pm.Â
