Danville, Ky. -- Fresh off of its season-opening trip to Covenant College last weekend, the Thunder baseball team returned to the Southeast this afternoon to begin a three-game stay at Centre College in Kentucky. Wheaton faced the hosting Colonels in Friday's opening contest, and the SAA side, ranked 13th in the country in this week's D3baseball.com/NCBWA Top 25 poll, earned a 12-2 victory after seven innings. This evening's result moves the Thunder's early season record to 1-4, while Centre improves to 6-1 to continue its strong start to the campaign.
Wheaton began the game on the front foot, plating two runs in its first batting series to seize an early advantage. Freshman outfielder
Tyler Burr led off with a single to right field and promptly advanced to second on a passed ball. A hit-by-pitch play put a second Thunder runner on base before a walk loaded the bags for the visitors.
Will Clegg drew another walk to bring Burr across home plate, and
Mason Diel followed this up with an RBI that allowed
James Scott to double the Thunder's lead. But the home side collected a third out and stranded two Wheaton runners on base to limit the damage at a two-run deficit.
Starting pitcher
JD Van Hook opened the night on fire, striking out the first three Centre batters to quickly end the inning. The graduate thrower tallied another pair of strikeouts in the second frame to keep Wheaton in front on the scoreboard. But after the Colonels' defense denied another runner in scoring position in the top of the third, consecutive walks and a two-RBI single tied the game at 2-2 in the bottom half, and the nationally-ranked hosts would control the contest from that point on.
Centre registered a three-up, three-down series in the top of the fourth inning, before two more RBI singles in the bottom gave the Kentucky outfit its first lead of the night. Wheaton had a chance to cut into its deficit in the fifth frame, but two more runners were stranded, and a five-run sixth inning all but confirmed the victory for the Colonels. After blanking two players in scoring position in the top of the seventh, Centre tallied a two-RBI double to stretch its advantage to double-figures and bring the game to a premature end.
The hosts scored 12 runs from 10 hits on Friday and committed one error, while the travelers finished the game with three hits and three errors. Centre logged an impressive 11 RBI and drew six walks, while Wheaton earned four walks and left nine runners on base. The Colonels also stole four bases this evening.
Van Hook set a new career-high with eight strikeouts in his four innings of work on the mound tonight, surrendering four hits from the 20 batters he faced. Rookie reliever
Jack Mazurowski and junior
Caleb Henderson each sat one Colonel batter down in their appearances from the bullpen.
Burr went 2-3 at the plate this evening and scored Wheaton's opening run, while Scott registered the other run and was hit by a pitch on three occasions. Clegg and Diel accounted for the Thunder's two RBI on Friday, and
Charlie Scofield logged the team's lone extra-base hit with a double in the third inning.
Wheaton will remain on Centre's campus for two more non-conference fixtures on Saturday, with the Thunder taking on fellow Illinois program Dominican University at 11 AM and Brevard College at 2:30 PM local time tomorrow.
