Carol Stream, Ill. -- After starting its three-game program against North Central College with a victory in Naperville on Friday, the Thunder baseball team returned to Lee Pfund Stadium on Saturday afternoon for the second and third legs of this weekend's series. The visiting Cardinals won today's first game, 7-4, before defeating Wheaton 12-3 in the series-decider to make up for Friday's home loss at the hands of the Thunder. Saturday's two defeats leaves Wheaton's record at 9-15 and 3-4 in conference play, while NCC improves to 10-13 and 5-2 in CCIW action.
The scoring was not opened until the third inning in game one this afternoon, but North Central jumped out to a commanding 6-0 lead in the seventh frame thanks in part to a smothering defensive performance that saw Wheaton manage just two hits through its first six batting series. A clutch three-RBI double by
Luke Hamm with two outs on the board in the bottom of the seventh brought the Thunder back into the contest by halving their deficit to 6-3. A sac fly to score
Noah Yi (pictured below) in the eighth then canceled out North Central's run in the top of the inning to keep the hosts within three scores. After getting a three-up, three-down sequence on NCC's batters, Wheaton got a final chance in the bottom of the ninth to complete an unlikely comeback when Hamm again came up with a big hit to move a runner up to third base. But the Cardinals only needed one more out to seal the win, and they got it with two runners on base to level the series up at one win apiece.
North Central out-hit Wheaton by a margin of 11-6 in today's first contest, and Wheaton also had a costly disadvantage in errors, committing three to NCC's zero.
Hamm posted two hits and a game-leading three RBI in Saturday's first matchup and was joined on a pair of hits by
Rutledge Feltel, who also scored a run. Yi contributed one hit and one score.
Jared Kloth began the first game on the mound for Wheaton and threw three strikeouts while scattering six hits and four earned runs across his six-frame appearance.
Jack Lindsay and
Billy Kessler each came on in relief and tallied one strikeout.
Today's second game began in similarly slow fashion, with neither team managing to reach home plate until the fourth inning, at which point North Central again jumped out to a sudden three-run lead. But the Thunder answered back with three scores of their own in the following frame to tie the game.
Nathan Hedlund led off with a double down the line and was immediately brought home by
Ryan Cartwright for Wheaton's first run. After
Tim Whitfield got on base and was sent to second following a Yi single,
Braden Engel wasted no time in getting his two baserunning teammates back home with a double blast into right field. But the visitors enjoyed another three-run inning in the top of the seventh and managed to strand Wheaton runners in the field in each of the last three frames to secure the series victory.
The Thunder again committed three errors in this evening's second matchup while not getting any in return from their Naperville opponents, and North Central posted 13 of the game's 24 total hits. The guests left six runners on base across the nine innings while the hosts saw seven players stranded. The Cardinals also stole five bags to Wheaton's one and drew the same 5-1 disparity in walks with their batters.
Alex Bagley was the starter on the mound for the Thunder in game two this evening, and the sophomore earned a game-high six strikeouts in his six innings of work.
JD Van Hook,
Sean Smith, and
David Levengood each saw time in game two, with the former not conceding any hits or runs in his two innings and the latter sitting down a pair of Cardinals hitters.
Yi was 3-5 at the plate with one run scored and stole Wheaton's only base in game two. Engel went for a pair of hits and two RBI, while Hedlund had two hits and a run and Cartwright had two hits and one RBI in Saturday's second game. Whitfield also chipped in with one hit and one run.
The Thunder will stay at home on Tuesday evening for a single game against the Augustana Vikings. First pitch is scheduled for 6:30 PM at Lee Pfund Stadium.
