Tucson, Arizona – The Wheaton baseball team swept Crown College on Friday in a doubleheader matchup. The Thunder won the opener 7-6 and Wheaton closed out the sweep with a 17-5 win in the second game. Wheaton concludes its weeklong trip to Tucson on Saturday morning with the second matchup of the week against Hamline College at 10:00 a.m.
Wheaton won today's first game 7-6 as the Thunder scored seven runs, on 10 hits, with one error while Crown plated six runs, on 10 hits with two errors.
Alex Bagley (1-0) had a strong outing on the mound for the Thunder as he earned the win in six innings of work. Bagley allowed one run, on seven hits with four strikeouts and one walk.
Austin Eilmes allowed three runs, including one earned run as he allowed two hits in a relief appearance.
Billy Kessler pitched 2/3 of an inning, allowing two unearned runs, on one hit, with two strikeouts.
JD Van Hook picked up his third save of the season with 1/3 of an inning of work, getting the last out of the game.
Tyler Burr was 3-for-5 in the opener, scoring twice, with two RBI.
Jack Gill (PICTURED LEFT) was 2-for-3 with a double, and one RBI.
James Scott hit a one-out single in the top of the first inning, and
Charlie Scofield drove him in with a sacrifice fly as Wheaton led 1-0 through the first inning.
Tyler Burr hit a two-run single in the top of the second inning and later scored on a wild pitch to increase the Thunder advantage to 4-0.
The Thunder lead increased to 5-0 in the top of the fifth when
Nathan Hedlund drove in a run for the 'Orange and Blue'.
Chris Lynam was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in the top of the sixth inning to increase the Thunder lead to 6-0. Crown scored its first run off of Bagley in the bottom of the sixth to cut Wheaton's lead to 6-1. Gill hit a sacrifice fly in the top of the seventh inning to extend the Thunder advantage to 7-1. The Polars scored five runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Van Hook entered the game and induced a fly out to centerfield to end the game.
Wheaton won tonight's finale 17-5 as the Thunder scored 17 runs, on 12 hits, with zero errors and Crown tallied five runs, on seven hits, with four errors.
David Levengood (1-2) earned the win in five innings on the mound with four earned runs, on six hits, with four strikeouts and one walk.
Caleb Snyder pitched an inning of scoreless relief and
Kyle Grier tossed the final inning, allowing one run, on one hit.
Gill was 3-for-3, with seven RBI as he collected a triple and a double.
Chris Lynam also had a 3-for-3 effort with a triple as he scored once and drove in a run. Scott was 2-for-3, with a double and a triple, scoring five times, and adding three RBI. Burr was 2-for-4, with four runs scored.
Wheaton scored three runs in the top of the first inning to gain a 3-0 lead. Gill hit a two-run triple in the inning and Lynam added a RBI-single. Crown responded with three runs in the top of the second inning to tie the game at 3-3. Wheaton regained the lead at 7-3 with four runs in the bottom of the second inning. The Thunder half of the second inning was highlighted by a two-run single by Gill.
The Thunder increased their lead to 15-3 with eight runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. The scoring outburst was highlighted by a three-run double to centerfield by Gill. Crown added a run in the top of the fifth inning as Wheaton led 15-4 through five innings. Scott hit a RBI triple and later scored on wild pitch in the bottom of the sixth inning and Crown scored a run in the top of the seventh to account for the 17-5 final score.
