Decatur, Ill. – The Wheaton Thunder baseball team dropped a heartbreaker to North Park on Wednesday afternoon in an elimination game of the 2026 CCIW Baseball Tournament. The third-seeded Vikings walked off with a 5-4 victory against the No. 6 seed Thunder to advance to the double-elimination round of the tournament that begins tomorrow. Wheaton's season concludes with a 16-24 overall record.

The Vikings scored five runs, on 10 hits, with two errors and Wheaton tallied four runs, on 10 hits, with one Thunder error. Thunder starting pitcher David Levengood had a strong outing today in 6-1/3 innings. Levengood allowed three runs, all earned, on five hits, with two strikeouts and one walk. Billy Kessler allowed one run, in 1/3 of an inning, on two hits. Freshman Jonah Moulton (1-2) absorbed the loss in 1-1/3 innings of relief. He allowed one run, on two hits, with one strikeout. JD Van Hook pitched 1/3 of an inning, with one strikeout and one hit allowed.

Right fielder Sean Dmyotrowicz was 2-for-3 at the plate for the Thunder with a walk. Dmyotrowicz hit Wheaton's lone double of the game and scored the game-tying run in the top of the ninth inning. Third baseman Will Clegg was 2-for-4, scoring one run. Tyler Burr, Mason Diel, Charlie Scofield, Nathan Hedlund, Ryan Cartwright and Michael Chang each hit a single for the 'Orange and Blue'.

Wheaton scored the first run of the game with a run in the top of the first inning. Diel hit a one-out single to left field, and scored three batters later on a sacrifice fly by Scofield. North Park tied the game at 1-1 in the bottom of the first inning as Reyn Matsuzaki hit a two-out RBI-single to even up the game.

Levengood settled into his role by the second inning as he held the Vikings hitless in the second frame. Clegg hit a two-out single for the Thunder in the top of the third inning. Scofield followed in the next at bat with a single, and then a NPU fielding error on the play allowed Scofield to advance to second as Clegg scampered home to give Wheaton a 2-1 lead. Hedlund followed with a RBI-single to bring Scofield home for a 3-1 Thunder lead in the top of the third inning. Levengood kept NPU off the scoreboard in the bottom of the third inning despite a two-out double.

The Vikings scored a run in the bottom of the fourth inning thanks to back-to-back two-out doubles as NPU cut the Thunder lead to 3-2. North Park's Joe Perona hit a two-out triple to leftfield in the bottom of the seventh inning that drove in two runs to give the Vikings their first lead of the game at 4-3.

Dmyotrowicz led off the top of the ninth inning for the Thunder with a double to right centerfield. Dmyotrowicz scored two  batters later on a RBI-single by pinch hitter Michael Chang to tie the game at 4-4. Wheaton had runners at first and third with one out in the top of the ninth, but could not capitalize to score the go-ahead run.

North Park's Enzo Vertucci hit a pinch hit double to lead off the bottom of the ninth inning. Luke Belllini pinch ran for Vertucci at second base, at the same time, Thunder closer JD Van Hook entered the game to pitch. A Thunder fielding error on a sacrifice bunt allowed  Bellini to advance to third base with no outs. Van Hook struck out Rylan Kawakami. Perona hit a bloop single to shallow left field that drove in Bellini's game-winning run.

NOTE WORTHY: As a team, Wheaton posted a .412 on-base percentage this season, fifth-highest in team history and the best OBP in a full season since 2010...the 88 doubles by Wheaton this season ranks third in team history...266 RBI this year is fourth in Wheaton's single-season record book, as is the 297 runs scored (fourth)...183 walks by the team this year is third in team history...Wheaton batters were hit by 97 pitches this season, shattering the previous school single-season record of 74...Diel's 107 career RBI place him eighth on Wheaton's all-time list...the 279 strikeouts thrown by Wheaton pitchers this year is fourth in team history...Diel departs Wheaton with 14 career home runs, a mark that is tied for ninth in program history...he also moved into third on Wheaton's all-time hit-by-pitch list this season with 34 career HBP...