Carol Stream, Ill. -- Following a month of non-conference competition to start the 2026 season, the Thunder baseball team finally began its CCIW slate on Saturday afternoon by welcoming Millikin University to Pfund Stadium. Wheaton snapped the Big Blue's eight-game winning streak and earned its first victory on home turf before the visitors took today's second contest, leaving both squads with an early 1-1 mark in league play. The Thunder's overall record now stands at 7-10, while the Big Blue own a 14-4 record.
Millikin came into Saturday's fixtures in red-hot form, receiving votes to be ranked in the latest D3baseball.com national poll. But Wheaton put in a clinical performance on both sides of the ball to log a convincing 9-1 win in each team's conference opener. The Thunder out-hit their central Illinois guests, 13-8, and tallied an impressive nine extra-base shots while allowing just two on the defensive end. The hosts drove in nine runs in this afternoon's opening game and did not concede any RBI, keeping Millikin off the scoreboard entirely after the third inning.
The Big Blue looked to start game one on the front foot and quickly put two runners on base. But the Thunder foiled this scoring opportunity with a well-timed 6-4-3 double play that ended the visitors' opening batting series. The shortstop involved in this sharp fielding sequence,
Jack Gill, then turned creator on the offensive end, driving in
Tyler Burr in the bottom half for the day's opening score. Wheaton stranded another player in scoring position in the top of the second and quickly made Millikin pay, as consecutive doubles from
Sean Dmytrowicz and
Nathan Hedlund scored the former to double the Thunder's advantage. Hedlund (
pictured left) was promptly brought across
the pentagon himself via an RBI single from
James Scott.
A double down the right field line and a wild pitch gave the Big Blue their first point of the afternoon, but the damage was limited to one run, as a ground out took Millikin's batters off the field with a runner waiting at third base. Consecutive hit-less innings then followed, but after another three-up, three-down defensive clamp in the top of the sixth frame, the Thunder created daylight on the scoreboard with two runs in the bottom that made it 5-1.
With two outs already on the board, Hedlund stepped up and launched his first homer of the season over the left field fence.
Ryan Cartwright followed this up with a ground-rule double which forced the visitors to go to their bullpen. But the substitution failed to break up Wheaton's momentum, and Burr proceeded to score Cartwright with a single shot down the left field line.
The home side shored up its advantage in today's first game thanks to three-consecutive double blasts in the bottom of the seventh inning.
Charlie Scofield started the party with a rip into left center and was immediately brought around the bases by
Chris Lynam, who in turn was able to score via
Mason Diel's RBI double. Millikin's lead-off batter registered his team's first hit since the third inning at the start of the eighth, but this did not lead anywhere, as three-straight outs continued the visitors' offensive frustrations. A huge hit from Gill and a sacrifice fly in the bottom half capped the scoring and stretched the Thunder's lead to eight runs, and their victory was confirmed following two strikeouts and a 3-1 putout in the top of the ninth frame.
Wheaton's game one win was due in large part to the arm of
Alex Bagley. The Thunder's starting pitcher went eight innings to earn his second victory of the season and tossed a career-high seven strikeouts with zero walks in that stretch. The junior gave up just six hits from the 31 batters he faced and came up with multiple well-timed throws to prevent the Big Blue's offense from ever establishing a comfortable rhythm. Freshman
Jack Mazurowski closed out the result in the ninth inning by sitting down a pair of Millikin hitters.
Gill led all players with three hits in today's opening contest, two of which were doubles, and was joined on two RBI by Hedlund, who also tallied two hits and two scores including his sixth-inning home run. Burr, Scott, Scofield, and Lynam all finished with one hit, one RBI, and one run in the win.
Millikin enjoyed a fast start and an efficient outing to get past Wheaton in the second half of Saturday's twinbill. The Big Blue plated four runs in the opening frame and scored in each of the first four innings to stay ahead of the hosts on the scoreboard. The Thunder registered more hits than their guests once again, this time at a 14-12 tilt, but were plagued by three errors, 11 free bases from walks and HBP situations, and an aggressive baserunning approach by the Big Blue, who stole nine bags to generate consistent offensive pressure in their 13-9 win.
Trailing 5-0 early on, Wheaton cut into its deficit in the second inning thanks to a single from Scofield, a double by Lynam, and Dmytrowicz's two-RBI blast into left field. The Thunder threatened to pull back level with their visitors three innings later when Cartwright and Scott were scored by Scofield's single and Diel brought Gill (
pictured right) around shortly after to make it 7-6 in Millikin's favor. But the Big Blue got the break they needed in a tight spot in the next exchange, as a two-out RBI double restored a three-run lead for the Decatur outfit. Millikin added one more score in the eighth inning to build a healthy but still vulnerable advantage heading into the final frame.
The visitors were then the beneficiaries of a critical play, as a fielding error kept their count at one out and eventually resulted in three unearned runs that took the margin away from the Thunder's reach. A two-score home run by Diel in the final batting series of the evening restored some pride on the scoreboard, but Millikin's flawless execution and ability to get on base proved too much to overcome in today's second game.
Wheaton pitched by committee in Saturday's second contest, with
Josh Ortiz being on the mound the longest of any Thunder thrower, tallying four strikeouts in his 2.2-inning appearance. Relievers
Jonah Moulton and
JD Van Hook also sat down multiple opposition batters in their cameos.
Diel led the way for the Thunder batsmen in game two, posting three hits and the same number of RBI. Scofield went 3-4 at the plate with two RBI, and Cartwright contributed two hits and two scores, including an inside-the-park homer in the sixth inning. Gill joined Cartwright and Diel in the home run column and finished with two runs, while fellow sophomore Scott tallied two hits and a run.
After an eventful start to its CCIW schedule, Wheaton will jump back into non-conference competition on Tuesday evening when the team hosts the University of Dubuque for a single game at 6 PM.
